BRITAIN & NORWAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 February 1940, Page 5

BRITAIN & NORWAY

MR CHAMBERLAIN STATES ISSUES NEUTRAL DUTIES IGNORED. POSITION THAT COULD NOT BE ACCEPTED A full statement on the Altmarck incident was made in the House of Commons by the Prime Minister, Mr Neville Chamberlain, who congratulated the Royal Navy on a notable addition to its annals. Referring to the statement of the Norwegian case made by the Norwegian Foreign , Minister, Mr Chamberlain said no official communication had been received from Norway since the original protest last Saturday. The Minister’s speech, he said, had made the inaction of the Norwegian Government even more difficult to understand. It now appeared that the Norwegian authorities had conducted no examination of the ship at all. Even the fact that the Norwegian authorities had discovered that the Altmarck had used its wireless in Norwegian territorial, waters in violation of Norwegian regulations did not lead them to take any action beyond making a complaint. If the. men had not been rescued from the Altmarck, said Mr Chamberlain, the Norwegian authorities would have allowed the ship to complete her voyage to Germany without any inquiry at all. The Norwegian Minister’s statement that the authorities had no knowledge that there were British prisoners aboard the Altmarck was most, surprising, in view of the fact that this had been reported weeks ago in the Press of the world. Mr Chamberlain said he found,it difficult to resist the conclusion that the Norwegian authorities had displayed complete indifference as to the use that the German fleet might make of Norwegian territorial waters. Their attitude was inconsistent with the active and impartial duty of a neutral towards Britain as a belligerent and created a position which the British Government could under no circumstances accept. Loud cheers greeted Mr Chamberlain’s statement and the Labour Opposition expressed its approval. A similar statement was made in the House of Lords. 5