STRONG FORCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 September 1939, Page 5

STRONG FORCES

MUSTERED IN SLOVAKIA AUSTRIANS IN FIGHTING LINE. DEFENSIVE POSTS ON BORDER. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, September 4. /‘The Times” correspondent at Zilina, Czechoslovakia, says that German troops converged from the Slovak base upon Newmarkt, from Levoca. Jablonka and Poprad in Hungary, whence cavalry and infantry, preceded by tanks and armoured cars, took Slovak troops with them. The latter, however, halted at the border and formed defensive posts. There are now 400,000 troops under German command in Slovakia, of whom 180,000, mainly Austrians, are fighting. There is a great scarcity of food and tobacco. An air raid, with incendiary bombs, annihilated the village of Chiemluch, near Tarnow, killing many. BRITISH WAR POLICY CONTROL OF FOOD SUPPLIES. REGISTRATION OF ENEMY ALIENS. LONDON, September 4. In the House of Commons the Minister of Health, Mr Walter Elliot, moving the second reading of the National Registration Bill, said it would facilitate such measures as the redistribution of food supplies. Mr Elliot forecast a temporary scheme of rationing pending larger and more detailed arrangements. The Bill provides for a compilation on census lines, after which identity cards will be issued for all. The President of the Board of Trade, Mr Oliver Stanley, moving the second reading of the Trading with the Enemy Bill, said it provided that a person was not necessarily to be regarded as an enemy because he was an enemy subject. German, Austrian and Czech refugees here did not become enemies merely because of their nationality. It would not be an offence to trade with them; but the Board of Trade would be empowered to proclaim specific individuals as coming within the definition of enemy, while enemy property would be' vested in custodians. WAR RISK RATES LOWER THAN IN 1914. LONDON, September 4. The new department of the Board of Trade, operating for the first time since the Great War, publishes a fresh' list of minimum war risk rates for overseas cargoes, the terms applying to vessels sailing on or after 11 a.m. yesterday: United Kingdom-Australasia, via Panama, outwards 40s per cent, homewards 50s; via Cape outwards 50s per cent, homewards 60s. It is noteworthy that on August 5, 1914, the figure homewards was 105 s. The reduc-, ed rate is attributable to the greater naval strength today. GERMAN TERROR POLISH WOMEN & CHILDREN SEIZED. TAKEN TO EAST PRUSSIA AS HOSTAGES. LONDON, September 4. The Warsaw correspondent of “The Times” says that news is coming in hourly of the appalling German terror. , Invaders on the East Prussia front are reported to be taking off women and children wholesale as hostages to East Prussia. Danzig residents of Polish blood, who were unable to escape, are reported to be receiving similar treatment. JEWISH SUPPORT WELCOMED BY BRITISH PREMIER. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day. 10.15 a.m.) NEW YORK. September 5. A United Press London correspondent says the Jewish Agency, through Dr Weizmann, has assured Mr Chamberlain that the Jews will stand by Britain and fight on the side of the democracies. Mr Chamberlain expressed warm appreciation.