Evening star., 1937-04-12
BRITAIN DECLINES
TO GUARD SHIPPING
IN SPA|N'S WATERS
Will Protect Vessels at Sea,
However, Baldwin In
forms Commons.
HUGE CRUISER ARRIVES
AT STATION OFF BILBAO
More Than 5000 Loyalist Troops
Are Reported Killed West
of Madrid.
BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND
Spanish ctDil Ddr, nearing end of
ninth month, has resulted in stale
mate as troops of the Madrid
Valencia government succeeded in
holding Spanish capital from in
surgent forces OF Gen. Francisco
Franco
FiDe-month siege of Madrid ap-
pedred near being broken by 10y
oltsts as rigorous attacks haze
forced rebel forces to retire from
parts OF the Madrid front, although
the insurgents succeeded in holding
University City stronghold
BY the Associated Press.
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told
the House of Commons today that
Great Britain, while guarding her
shipping 'at sea" in the Bay of Biscay
with the worlds mightiest warship,
could not protect British food ships
actually entering the besieged port of
Bilbao, Spain.
The stocky head of the conserva-
tive government outlined this stand,
reached at a sudden Sunday meeting
OF the cabinet, at a moment when the
H. M. S. Hood. mighty battle cruiser,
bristling with 28 guns, had reached a
position off Bilbao after forced-draft
voyage from Gibraltar.
Baldwin, while insisting the British
government was neither extending
belligerent rights to the Spanish in
surgent besiegers of Bilbao nor tol-
Grating ANY interference with British
shipping at sea-" explained:
They (the government) are, how
ever warning British shipping that
in view of conditions at present pre-
vailing in the neighborhood of Bilbao
they should not, for practical reasons
and in view of the risks against which
it Is at present impossible to protect
them, go into the area as long as
these conditions prevail"
Six Driven From Bilbao.
Six British food ships yesterday
were driven off from Bilbao, which is
choked with hungry refugees, by the
tnsurgent feet.
of Biscay, Baldwin disclosed because
the government wanted British naval
force there under the direct command
of an officer of flag RANKIN view of
the difficult position off Bilbao
Clement R. Atlee, leader of his
majeSty's opposition, asked: Does not
the governments position amount to a
blockade of Bilbao?"
No replied Baldwin decisively.
The Basque government at Bilbao
offered guarantees of safety to any
British ship entering the Spanish ter
ritorial limit and said government
shore guns were capable of protecting
ships at distance of IL miles from
shore, despite the presence off Bilbao
Of 10 insurgent blockade ships
Premier Baldwin added that mines
had been laid on both sides Of the sea
approaches to Bilbao and that there
was the ever-present danger of dam
age from insurgent aircraft.
Aside from the menace to Bilbao
from the sea, Gen. Emilio Mola's in
surgent armies are pressing the city
by land, from the south and east.
Bilbao itself-capital of the Basque
autonomous regime and a principal
ally of the Spanish Valencia govern
ment in the civil war-is thronged
with 100000 persons, many of them
reduced to rice rations.
An insurgent blockade-unrecog-
nized by Britain-drove the food ships
away from their Bilbao destination and
into st. Jean de Luz yesterday.
AS the huge battle cruiser Hood en-
sered the blockaded waters, another
British war vessel raced to the rescue
of a merchantmen reported de
tanned" by the insurgents. Shipping
circles later said, however, the report
probably was only a confusion o1
: names
5000 Reported Slaughtered.
More than 5000 government troops
were estimated to have been slaugh-
tered west OF Madrid in surprise in
surgent attack against the right flank
of the government army.
AS the bloody battle entered its fifth
day an official insurgent communique
reported Gen. Jose Miaja's forces
routed in one of their severest defeats
on the Madrid front.
Government sources said ''only
slight notifications" of their lines
(See SPAIN Page A-6)