SURRENDER IN SPAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 February 1939, Page 5

SURRENDER IN SPAIN

UNCOMPROMISING DEMAND BY FRANCO DESIROUS OF ENDING WAR. INTERVIEW WITH ITALIAN AGENCY. (Independent Cable Service.) BARCELONA, February 23. General Franco, in an interview with an Italian news agency yesterday, said: “Of all Spaniards, I am most desirous of ending the war, but I will accept nothing but unconditional surrender.”

TRADING COMPANY FORMED BY JUAN MARCH. PROMOTION OF TRADE WITH BRITAIN. (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, February 14. Senor Juan March, financial backer of General Franco, has formed the firm of J. March and Co, London, of which he is chairman. The nominal capital is £lOO,OOO and Senor March plans to organise a technical service in order to supply manufacturers with details of Spanish needs, to facilitate the entry of British goods into Spain for national reconstruction and also to open up British markets for Spanish products. SOVEREIGN STATE. HOUSE OF LORDS JUDGMENT. (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, February 24. The House of Lords in delivering judgment in a case of disputed ownership, held that the General Franco administration is a foreign ' sovereign state. TROOPS MASSING PREPARATIONS FOR ASSAULT IN CENTRAL ZONE. PARIS, February 24. It is learned that General Franco is massing 100,000 troops, including Italians and Moors, for an assault, in the central zone of Spain. Nine hundred planes will be used and at least 150 Italian tanks. FRANCO’S PLANS ' CITIES TO BE ATTACKED SIMULTANEOUSLY. (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) ROME, February 24. The newspapers feature the' announcement that General Franco plans to attack Madrid, Almeria and Valencia simultaneously. Reports from Barcelona state that a combined attack may be launched in a few days’ time, led by the army that was victorious in Catalonia, z with the Italian Legionaries and the Navy. It is declared that before the offensive, General Franco will call on the Republican army to surrender. DE JURE RECOGNITION. APPROVAL IN FRANCE. (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) PARIS, February 24. The Prime Minister, M. Edouard Daladier, announced in the Chamber of Deputies that he proposes to ask the Council of Ministers on Monday to recognise General Franco. The Deputies passed a vote of confidence in the Government, which vote is equivalent to approval of de jure recognition of General Franco. CHRISTIAN NAMES. REJECTION OF REPUBLICAN FASHIONS. (Received This Day, 10 a.m.) BURGOS, February 24. A decree abolishes Christian names such as Carl Marx and Lenin, bestowed during the Republican regime. Parents are given sixty days after which, if the decree is not obeyed, the State will bestow the name of the' child’s birthday saint.