The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 9

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 13, 1937 DETAILS OF THE ANTI-PIRACY HINT OF ITALIAN JAPANESE STILL BOMB OUTRAGES IN PARIS A NORWEGIAN OBJECTION HELD Wanted AGREEMENT Shanghai Struggle Two Policemen Killed in Wrecking of CRUISE German Workers Employers Headquarters FOREIGN AGENTS SUSPECTED FROM- OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT CHINESE RAID ON WARSHIPS A Much-Improved Scheme NO BELLIGERENT RIGHTS FOR EITHER SPANISH PARTY Russians Not to Take Part in Patrol FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHEAP HOLIDAYS FOR ALL Strength Through Joy From our Berlin Correspondent Present-day Germany is a country of low wages and high prices. But the Government has kept down wages and cannot prevent the effects of credit inflation from making the A QUESTION OF PRESTIGE Russia and Piracy Rome, September 12. could have been the purpose of this it would have legalised the sinking Paris, September 12.

A double terrorist outrage, which threw Paris into a state of consterna tion, was committed in the west end last night. The crowds around the Etoile were horrified at 10 15 to hear a tremendous explosion in the neighbourhood, followed by another explosion coming from a slightly different direction one or two minutes later. The explosions were also heard bv thousands of neoDle at the Exhibi tion, half a mile away, but here they were, in most cases, attriDutea to tne fireworks. The effect of the two explosions was the almost total destruction of the headauarters of the two principal pmnlovers federations the conieaer- ation Generate au ratronat fxancais, in the Rue de Presbourg, and the Groun of the Metallurgical and Allied Industries of the Paris Region," in the Rue Boissiere, fcarely a hundred vards away. The sight of the two buildings after the explosion was niaeousiy reminis cent of photographs of Madrid or Guernica after a bombing raid.

A large Dart of the confederation build ing was demolished from the fourth floor down, while in the Rue Boissiere the entire block of offices was destroyed. It being Saturday night both houses were empty. In one of them the norter. the onlv nerson present, had an extraordinary escape, while the porter of the other building had gone to the exhibition. But in the Rue df Presbours two noliceman stationed in the street outside were buried under tons of wreckage, and when, after ereat efforts, they were extri cated they were nearly dead, and died on their way to hospital.

THE MYSTERIOUS CALLER The explosion was caused in each case by a large parcel delivered about seven o'clock in the evening. Each contained a clockwork bomb of extra ordinary power, the explosive substance being cheddite. melanite, or dynamite. The parcel was deuvered at the Rue de Presbours by a heavily built man of about in a blue blouse and about 5ft" lOin. in height.

The descriDtion Kiven by the norter of the other building roughly tallies with this except for the blouse, but it is considered possible that the man may have changed it between his two calls. Who did it? Peonle with lona memories remembered the anarchist outrages of two generations ago but the last of these was committed in 1902, and there have been no more since. Although growing anarchist tendencies can be observed among a small extremist wing of the working class, there is no evidence at all that these vaguely anarchist elements can in any way be held responsible for what happened last night THREE THEORIES For the present the public is lost in speculation. What, it is asked, 'At Least Five Hit While Japan is admitted by Nanking to have captured Machane. SO miles south of Tientsin, where there was a Chinese base, her forces are still held at Shanghai.

After a month's fighting there the long-delayed junction ot the troops landed at Woosung and xangtzepoo is still not effected. The Japanese have gained a firmer footing between Liubo and Woosung, according to Reuter from Shanshai last night, but nowhere have they penetrated more than five miles from the coast. Chinese airmen who carried out a raid on Japanese war ships lying near Shanghai last night reported to Nanking that at least five of the warships, including two cruisers, were hit. Three further heavy attacks were launched by the Japanese during the week-end at various points between the northern boundary Shanghai and the ten-mile front on the River Yangtze, but with no substantial success. Japanese 'planes still cannot find the Chinese batteries concealed among the woods of Pootung across the river from Shanghai.

JAPANESE REPULSED All over the ten miles between Liuho, on the Yangtze, and Paoshan. near Woosung, each side has in the last 48 hours been pounding the other with artillery. Many villages were fired. Along the Woosung Creek there was another duel, as the Japanese have been trying so far without success to execute a flank ing movement against Kiangwan, between Shanghai and Woosung. TbHANi At midnicht last night Japanese troops, led by tanks, tried to rush the Chinese positions at the North Rail way Station, just outside the borders of Shanshai.

but were repulsed. Vigorous machine-gun fare was still going on early this morning. In North China the Japanese claim to have taken a Chinese defensive position in the hills adjoining the Peking-Hankow railway. They have also launched an attack on Tatung. in North-eastern Shansi, and fighting has been renewed in the Liangsiang sector near Peking.

Under cover of darkness 700 Chinese troops attacked the Japanese lines west of the Peking-Hankow railway, but were encircled and suffered heavy casualties. Further new on pace 12 CAPTURED SHIP RELEASED Rebels' Decision It was learned in official quarters in London last night that the British tanker Romford, which was on Friday reported to have been captured by the Spanish rebel cruiser Canarias, is now on her way to Land's End. There is no information available yet as to the circumstances of her release or when she is expected to return. The capture was reported by the rebels to have taken place off Algiers French territory, presumably on suspicion that she was carrying oil to a Spanish Government port. The Romford, which is owned by the same firm as the torpedoed vessel tbe Woodford, left liana on bepiemoer giving her destination as Great Britain and the Continent.

Reuter learns. Since then nothing had been heard of her movements. The Romford is owned by the Finchley Steamship Company, whose manaeer is Mr. John Nicholas vassiuou. On August 28 the captain of the Romford, on his arrival off Athens, reported that his vessel had been attacked during the night by a 'plane of unknown nationality, when twetaty miles en Barcelona.

She escaped undamaged. The Romford is the second British vessel taken by General Franco's war ships last wees ana tne intra since the beginning ox tne mania. DR. MRS; STREETER pierg; sefuxber 11. The identity of the two British victims of the Swiss, air liner which crashed yesterday on the Jura Mountains near waldenburg, ten miles from here, was established to-day as Prebendary Burnett Hilman Streeter.

Provost of -Queen's College, and his wife. Dr. streeter. wno was txj, ana ms wize were the only passengers. aatie oa mat 'pc4 outrage? Roughly speaking, three theories have been put forward.

One, that certain revolutionary extremists decided on this demon stration against the employers, who (they feel) are now trying to recover the ground they lost under the Blum Government, and that, considering the choice of the day and hour, no loss of life was intended. Another theory is that it was a provocation by the Right, perhaps with the tacit approval of the employers themselves, who, it is suggested, wish to create a Red terrorist scare before the local elections. This theory is supported by the Communist "Humanite" and accepted with some important reservations by the Radical "CEuvre." But the theory that oerhaps finds the greatest credence of all is that the outrage was committed by foreittn. probably Italian, agents in the hope of creating political unrest and strife in France, of preventing financial confidence from returning and of stopping the progress made in recent months towards more orderly rela tions between capital and labour. It is argued by the supporters of this theory that, at a time when France was showing her unanimous deter mination to take a strong stand in the Mediterranean, it was in the interests oi certain Powers to shake French unity in mis manner.

"SINISTER OUTSIDE FORCES" The feeling is so widespread that some sinister outside forces are responsible for the outrage that one has not the impression at the moment that it will create as much internal com motion in France as was feared at first, and as those guilty of the crime may nave anticipated. The outrage has been condemned as "un-French" by M. Jouhaux, the trade union leader; several other trade unionists have condemned it with the utmost severity, while M. Gignoux, the president of the Employers' Federation, who was in the building in the Rue de Presbours two hours before' the explosion, while protesting against certain insinuations against the employers themselves, has declared that he would make no state ment that was liable in any way to interrere with the work of the Govern- ment and the police in clearing up the mystery. All day to-day hundreds of tons of wreckage were being cleared away and measures were taken to prevent new falls of masonry.

Police guards were keeping away thousands of people curious to see- the wrecked buildings. The two policemen who lost their lives in the explosion will be buried at the municipality's expense. A reward of 200 has been offered by one of the evening papers for information leading to the arrest of the guilty. M. Chautemps, the Premier, who last night drove to the scene of the explosion, declared to-day that the outrages were criminal and stupid." their office was crushed by a landslide caused by the heavy rains.

Shipping services in the port of Kobe have been disorganised and sailings have been cancelled. Some disorganisation of shipping has also been caused at Yokohama. MANY FISHERMEN DEAD Singapore, September 12. Five Chinese fishermen, whose Junk had been blown out to sea by a typhoon, were picked up to-day about 70 miles from Hong-Kong by the British steamer Mirzapore (6,715 tons). The men, who had been, without food and water for five days, reported that seven members of the crew had died and that a fishing fleet of 40 junks with 450 men on board had been lost.

Reuter. A SOVIET "EMIR" Oriental Customs Die Hard From oar own Correspondent Moscow, September 12. That Oriental customs die hard in Soviet Middle Asia has been revealed during the past few days in attacks in the Soviet press on the Premier and highest officials of Tadzhikistan, the Soviet republic formed from the regions of Bokhara and Turkestan. Abdullah Rakhimbayeff, chairman of the Council of Commissars, main tained a harem of 'three wives, and generally acted in the role of potentate; travelling with the same pomp which formerly attended the Emir of Bokhara. Five hundred collective farmers were forced to walk eight miles to meet Rakhimbayeff and the peasants generally were treated contemptuously.

Tbe officials are accused of supporting the mullahs, who cam paigned against the- abandonment of veils oy women ana allowing tne diversion of the collective farms' funds to the building of mosques. MILLION PEOPLE IN. MOSCOW DISPLAY Moscow, Snrmora 12. Nearly 1.000,000 men and women filed through 'file Red Square during the, twentjMhird International Youth Day. Stalin and other leaders watched the display from a stand on Tnfn' Marshal Vorosfafloff.

the People's Defence Commissar, ryesterday watched the tactical exerriwn which are being carried out by. troops in the Moscow military and talked with the, rank nm ie and their otnnmanctas. Renter. if Political quarters here are jubilant over the "rebuff inflicted on Mr. Litvinoff by what they regard as the exclusion of Russia from the Mediterranean patrol at the Nyon Conference, but this is the only feature of the Nyon plan which arouses any enthusiasm in Italy.

Italy will not adhere to any Mediterranean arrangement which does not put her on terms of complete parity with other Powers, it is learned here. Italians are more than doubtful of the Nyon plan, in that the patrolling of the main trade routes are reserved to Britain and France. On grounds of prestige, if for no other reason, this arrangement is distasteful to Italians. The "Stampa" says: The Nyon proposals seem to be inspired by the single purpose of legalising and protecting Bolshevist contraband. Misunderstandings will be aggravated.

When it is proposed to pass from the diplomatic field to military measures any and every situation becomes 100 per cent more dangerous. Italy and Germany will make every effort to prevent events from taking a dangerous turn. But agreement must be reached on a field of absolute parity. A return to the system of Mediterranean pacts of unhappy memory is inconceivable. This last reference is to the mutual assistance guarantees between Great Britain and Mediterranean States during sanctions.

It is stated here in semi-official quarters that Italy will not accept or consider proposals unless they come from the London Non-intervention Committee. Consequently no Italian decision is to be expected till the com' mittee meets. Keuter. HITLER ON NYON Speech To-day Nuremberg, September 12. Here Hitler will, Reuter understands, refer to the Nyon Conference and other foreign questions in his speech to the party congress here to-morrow night.

ENGLISHMEN DROWNED River Plate Accident Buenos Aybes, September 12. A 21-year-old Manchester man, Mr. John Walter Coburn, and his two companions, George Pennington and Royce Clutterbuck, both Englishmen born in Argentina, were drowned when their rowing-boat capsized on the River Plate. Only the body of Pennington has so far been recovered. neuter.

FRANCO'S REPRESENTATIVE AT GENEVA Geneva, September 12, The Duke of Alba arrived here to-day an unofficial representative of General Franco. Reuter. and Bulgaria and were adopted by the Conference. BRITISH PROCEDURE It is possible that the strange procedure followed at the private meeting of the Conference on Friday enabled the British Delegation to say that the zone system had been agreed on. The delegates were not provided with copies of the British scheme, which was read to them by Mr.

Eden. M. Delbos, who was in the chair, said that thev would take it clause by clause, and asked after each clause had read whether there were anv objections. The delegates, who had had no opportunity cf studying the proposals and had no copies before them, were at first taken aback and allowed several clauses to go through without objections. It is possible that one of these clauses embodied the zone system When, however, Mr.

Eden came to the clause giving submarines in effect the right to torpedo merchant vessels if they complied with the provisions of the 1936 protocol. Mr. Litvinoff strongly objected. He was supported bv M. Antonescu.

the Rumanian Foreign Minister, who proposed to delete the reference to the 1938 protocol and thus oblige the control-: ling Powers to counter-attack submarines attacking a merchant, vessel in -all circumstances. Mr. Eden! refused to accept the amendment, but, as was said in my message of Friday- night, finally had to agree to reconsider the matter. In the coarse of the discussion objections were also made to the zone system. The result of the discussions at Nyon shows that Germany and Italy made a great blunder from their point of view in no' attending the Conferencea blander that others need-not regret.

If the final agreement is, as most people here think, much better than the original British scheme, that is due primarily to Mr. LitvinofL from omr diplomatic jkmA ftam oar am Bafia. Fans, 121 TYPHOON DAMAGE IN JAPAN cost of living the highest in Europe, it can be said that it has dealt with the problem of providing cheap amusement and amenities for its workpeople's slender purses. Indeed. the cheapest thing for Germany's working population is a holiday.

The State has legislated for annual paid holidays for all and has provided an organisation which offers the working and moderate-salaried class a summer or winter holiday from as little as 25 marks, which is the equivalent of a week's wage to some workpeople and half a week's wage to the well-paid skilled artisan. Official spokes men would, in fact, declare that the cheap amenities provided for Germany's workpeople constitute an additional wage. A great deal of publicity has surrounded the more spectacular enterprises of the Strength Throuuh Joy" holiday organisation, such as the cruises to Madeira, and there is in consequence much incredulity about them abroad, where they are believed by many people to be Nazi propaganda stunts." Their price is in any case much too high (even, at the extraordinarily low fare charged of 100 marks) for the German working classes, and they constitute but a small part in the vast holiday programme of the organisation. A FIVE-DAY CRUISE I was invited by "Strength Through Joy" to join a five-day cruise from Bremerhaven to the Norwegian fiords in the region of Bergen with the better part of a thousand Berlin holiday-makers. The basic price of the cruise was 50 marks, but many people paid more, while many did not pay at alL The ordinary commercial price of a Norwegian cruise is about seven times as much.

Strength Through Joy" holiday-makers have to fill up a questionnaire giving details of their employment and wages. The more highly paid employee has to pay for his own ticket and, in addition, part of the cost of a ticket for the most poorly paid. Employers are requested by the Labour Front organisation, especially when a firm is doing well, to buy a number of "Strength Through Joy" holiday tickets to be distributed among workpeople who cannot afford a holiday at alL A proportion of holiday-makers in all the "Strength Through Joy" programmes get their vacation free. Last year 150,000 members went on sea cruises through. "Strength Through.

Joy." This year the number is probably considerably higher, and it is expected that it will continue to grow when the organisation has its own fleet. At present "Strength Through Joy" charters vessels of the big German shipping companies for short periods, sometimes for a single cruise, squeezed in between the regular services upr.n which the vessel is engaged. A complete "Strength Through Joy" fleet is contemplated, and two of the vessels are already under construction. One of them, the Wilhelm Gustloff, should be ready for service next year. They promise to be line and interesting vessels twin-screw, Diesel electric motor- ships of 580ft.

length and 60ft. beam, making 15 knots. They will accommodate 1,500 passengers 700 in 350 double cabins and 800 in cabins for four. The strength of the crew (who have the same type of quarters as the passengers) will be about 400. Among the amenities of the ships will be a swimming bath with douches, massage and medical rooms.

a winter garden, social saloon, cafe, and gymnasium. Cinema performances will be given in several of the ships' rooms. The vessels are designed, in short, for mass traffic with the greatest possible facilities for amusement. BREMERHAVEN TO BERGEN The Bergen cruise was made in a North German Lloyd liner, the Berlin, an oil-burning vessel of 15,000 tons and 16 knots, ordinarily employed in the North Atlantic service. Chock-full from bow to stern, the Berlin left the quay at Bremerhaven with the band playing amid scenes as lively as at any of its regular departures for Halifax and New York.

A special train had brought the holiday-makers from Berlin the evening before the departure, and many of them had not slept in their cabins more than an hour or two, especially tbe more elated younger people. Favoured by the warmth, light, and colour of a windless July day; the holiday-makers, not one in a hundred of whom had ever set foot in. a liner before and many of whom had never seen one, prepared to settle down to their, thrilling experience. "They were given the complete run of the ship, with no barriers between- the affluence of the first-class quarters, with -their spacious dining-rooms, social smoking-rooms, verandas, and generous deck space, and tbe more modest ana restnecea-secopa and third class parts of the ship. The less fortunate who had been (Continued at foot of next-page.) of Vessels bv submarines flying the Spanish or that of Franco provided-they complied with the provisions of the London Protocol of November 6, 1936, which i i appues oniy wnen a state ox war exists.

Now that the agreement explicitly- says that no belligerent rights and no right to control suuppuig are recognised- mat is no longer the case. CONFLICTING VIEWS It is true that the agreement obliges the signatory Powers to attack submarines only when they do not comply with the provisions of the 1930 treaty and the 1936 protocol, but it does not forbid them to counter-attack submarines attacking merchant vessels, even if the provisions of those two instruments have been complied with. Under these conventions the submarine must give time for the crew to escape before sinking a merchant ship. There appears, however, to be some difference of opinion about the interpretation of this point in the agreement It was said in British official quarters last night that a signatory Power would not have the right to counter-attack a submarine complying with the provisions mentioned unless the merchant ship attacked belonged to the signatory Power in question. The French and Russian view, on the other hand, is that as no belligerent rights are recognised, and therefore no legal state of war exists, any sub marine attacking a merchant vessel may be counter-attacked and sunk in any circumstances under general international law.

THE RIGHT TO ATTACK M. Delbos was asked last night at the French press reception whether a French warship, for instance, would nave the right to counter-attack a submarine attacking a merchant vessel belonging to another country even if the submarine had complied with the provisions of the 1930 treaty and the 1936 protocol, and he replied, "Not only the right but the duty." This, however, is a question of texts, and, the important matter is how the British and French Governments will apply the texts in practice. The French naval experts are of opinion that the agreement makes the entire suppression of piracy in the Mediterranean possible if it is rigorously applied. It has to be said that in the opinion of most naval experts it would be almost impossible in practice for a submarine to comply with the provisions of the 1936 pro tocol. It would, for instance, run the risk of being rammed by tbe merchant vessel.

RUSSIA'S POSITION Mr. Litvinoff took the initiative in insisting on the inclusion in tbe preamble of the refusal to recognise belligerent rights, and he was supported by Delbos, with the result that the British Delegation gave way. Nothing was agreed on Friday, as was implied in my message of Friday. The statement broadcast on Friday night that Russia wished to be entrusted with a. zone was equally untrue.

The Russian Government has no desire to send its ships into the Mediterranean, if only because it has no ships in the Black Sea to send. They would have had to be sent from the Baltic, where they could not be spared. From the first Russia and the States of the Balkan Entente namely. Greece. Rumania, Turkey, and Yugo-Siavia said that they were not in a position to patrol the Eastern Mediterranean, and wished France and Great Britain to undertake the control of the whole Mediterranean.

At a meeting of the representatives of the Balkan Entente vntgrdav morning they decided to propose that in the Eastern Mediterranean the Interested Governments should protect commerce in their own territorial waters, that, they should consult together with the view of collaborating. and that on the high seas the British and. French navies awmM eracisa the control. These Nyon, September 12. The Mediterranean Conference cached an agreement when it met ht Nyon yesterday afternoon, but Mr.

i.ilvinoff and also, 1 understand, some other delegates said that they must refer to their Governments before definitely accepting it For this the convention will probably r.ot be signed before the middle of the week, possibly Wednesday. Mr. Litvinoff said that in his pinion the terms of the agreement might not fully achieve the purpose of the Conference namely, the entire suppression of piracy. CONVENTION EXPLAINED An official summary of the agreement will be found elsewhere. It does not give all the details and it will be necessary to see the actual text of the draft convention before forming a definite opinion.

I am in a position to give the principal provisions of the draft convention rather more fully than they are given in the official summary. They are. as follows The preamble points out that attacks on ships in contravention of the laws of war are equivalent to acts of and that such acts of piracy have been committed in the Mediter ranean by submarines against ships not belonging to the parties struggling in Spain. The preamble continues that, not admitting the right of either side in the Spanish conflict to exercise belligerent rights or to control shipping, even if they observe the laws of war, and without prejudice to the right of any signatory to protect its shipping against any interference on the high seas or to other collective measures that may be agreed upon, the signatories have decided on the following collective measures 1. The naval forces of the Powers parlies to the agreement will protect tbe ships of all countries that are not parties lo the Spanish conflict.

2. Any submarine attacking such a ship contrary to the provisions of London Naval Treaty of 1930 confirmed by the Protocol of November 6, 1936, will be counter-attacked and. If possible, destroyed. LThe reference to the Protocol of 1936 is omitted in the official summary. 3.

The same trill be done with any submarine found in the neighbourhood a place where a ship has been attacked in the circumstances already described If there is ground for believing that it is responsible. i. The execution of these provisions in the Western Mediterranean, except fnr the Tyrrhenian Sea, where special arrangements may be made, is confided to British and French Fleets. In the Mediterranean, except for the Adriatic all Interested Governments will protect commerce in their own territorial waters while the British and French Fleets will do this on the high seas up to the Dardanelles. The other Governments undertake to help them in every possible way.

5. To facilitate this work the signatories will, as a general rule, refrain from sending their submarines to navigate in the Mediterranean. When they do so the submarines will travel on the surface In tbe company of a surface vessel. Certain cones may be set aside tor purposes of exercise. Foreign sab-marines will be prohibited from entering the.

territorial waters of the respective signatories except for purposes of repair. 6. Commerce wUI be directed along routes to be agreed upon. 7. Surface vessels may travel any- here.

8. One month's notice Is required for withdrawal from the agreement. The zone of the Tyrrhenian Sea be offered to Italy. It is of no "portance as a commercial route -d is frequented almost entirely by lian vessels. If Italy does not -cept the agreement this zone, too, 'U presumably be taken over by -'ranee and Great Britain.

A MUCH-IMPROVED SCHEME In spite of Mr. LitvinofTs reservations this agreement is considered by '-he Russians, the States of the Balkan Entente, and other critics of the original British scheme to be a great improvement on that scheme. The British delegation has, in fact, made considerable concessions. In original form the British scheme would in effect and by implication have given belligerent sights to the parties in the Spanish civil for Torao, September 1L A typhoon struck part of Japan early this morning and caused loss of life and damage to property. Fifteen persons were killed in Kagawa prefecture, the area worst affected.

Forty-six houses collapsed there, and 1,000 were inundated, while 200 fishing-boats were sunk. In Osaka prefecture eleven persons were killed, and widespread damage to property was done. Six hundred houses were flooded by a tidal wave which struck the low-lying part of the town of Osaka. Eleven people were killed and nine injured in the Okay am a prefecture. Over a dozen employees of the water- station near Nikko were entombed when ONE DEAD, TWO HURT IN FIRE Alarm Given by Dogs Thomas Knight Bloodworth (51).

an hotel kitchen porter, died and two sisters. Miss Emma Rose Davies and Miss Jessie Davies. were injured in a fire at a home in Clapham Road, London, S.W, early yesterday. Mrs. Samways.

mtther of the two women, was aroused by the barking of her dogs and gave the alarm. Blood- worth answered when called, but nothing more was heard of him. Mrs. Samways. after running downstairs through the flames, warned neighbours, but firemen prevented the flames spreading.

The Davies sisters were injured through jumping from a fire-escape. DIED AFTER RESCUE Mrs Margaret Richmond, a 75-year-old Dunlfe woman, died in Dundee Royal Infirmary last night after a 54-year-old labourer had rescued her from a fire at her house in Blyth Street early yesterday. Mrs. yKjwiwn lived alone. Flames were seen raming from tne house and neighbours went to the rescue.

Joseph a labourer, opened tbe window and entered the smoke-filled room. He stumbled over Mrs. Richmond, who was lying on th floor, and carried her- to safety. FOREIGN TELEGRAMS ON PAGE 12: Herr Hitler on' Colonies Arms dt the Far Eart 'ADjJo-IuHan "Relations proposals' were approved bj.