Gibraltar for Ceuta

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 35, 11 February 1937, Page 6

Gibraltar for Ceuta

A suggestion that Britain should give up Gibraltar in exchange for Ceuta, on the African side of the Straits, was made by Vice-Admiral C. V. Usborne at a meeting in London of the Near and Middle Hast Association. At all costs Britain must keep her communications open in the Mediterranean, and the problem was how to do it. In the event of war with Spain siege guns could subject Gibraltar to continuous bombardment, and aeroplanes could bomb it from Algeria and French Morocco. The Rock was untenable in war against Spain, and it would be exceedingly unpleasant to live on in a war against France. Opposite the Rock, on the other side of the Straits, less thun 20 miles away, was the Spanish fortress of Ceuta. Unfortunately, it had belonged to Spain so long that in the minds of the Spaniards it was almost a part of Spain, yet it could not be quite so essentially Spanish as Gibraltar itself. Nothing could be more happy once Spain had settled down again than that Britain should offer to exchange Gibraltar for Ceuta. Spain would acquire once again the integrity of its territory, and Great Britain would acquire a fortress just as easy to defend as the Rock, but with a hinterland large enough for an extensive aerodrome which would enable the fortress not only to send out sea patrols, and thus perform her function of guarding the Straits much more effectively, but also to reply to bombing attacks by bombing attacks. The hinterland aerodrome would be an essential Dart of the bargain