GRAF SPEE STILL AT ANCHOR IN MONTEVIDEO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 December 1939, Page 7

GRAF SPEE STILL AT ANCHOR IN MONTEVIDEO

Probable Time of Departure Veiled in Secrecy KEEN DIPLOMATIC BATTLE IN PROGRESS BRITAIN AND GERMANY BOTH EXERCISING STRONG PRESSURE (By Telegraph.—Press Association—Copyright.) MONTEVIDEO, December 17. With many repairs made and a stock of provisions aboard, the Admiral Graf Spee was apparently ready early this morning to fight or run the Allied blockade. At 12.30 a.m. small craft and barges were ordered away and she lay with her bow toward the breakwater opening. Within half an hour there was clear water, but despite favourable conditions—the moon had set and there was a slight fog—she did not move. The Uruguayan Government Ims fixed S p.m. Imlay as the limit of the Admiral. Graf Spec's stay, says the Montevideo correspondent of the “New York Times.’’ The Argentine and Uruguayan fleets will establish a joint patrol to prevent a battle between the German ship and the combined British and French squadron within their jurisdictional walers. The news agencies in Montevideo are agreed that I'riiguay has given the Admiral Graf Spee till Sunday night to leave, but in the absence of an official Government announcement the deadline is uncertain. According to the correspondent of tin 1 Associated Press of America the Uruguayan Naval Board, after inspecting the Nazi vessel, recommended 5 p.m.. Montevideo time. The Foreign .Minister. Heitor Guani, refused to announce the actual deadline publicly on ethical grounds, lest he be regarded tts revealing the German plans to the enemy.