Evening star., 1937-01-11
BRITISH NAVAL CHIEFS CALLED.
Will Discuss Mediterranean Strength
at Foreign Office.

Will Discuss Mediterranean Strength
at Foreign Office.
LONDON, January II R.-Brit-
aims highest naval chieftains were
summoned to the foreign office to
discuss empire strength in the Med
iterranean today after the govern
ment was reported to have received
information concerning "a certain
amount Of German activity, in Span
ish Morocco.
simultaneously, authoritative
sources disclosed four ranking ad-
in advance Of British naval concen.
tration around the fortified gateway
First Lord of the Admiralty SiI
Samuel Hoare and Admiral of the
Fleet Sir Ernie Chatfleld conferred
with Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
on the Spanish and Moroccan situa-
tions.
British representatives in North
Africa were instructed to send full
reports of alleged German incursior
into Spanish Morocco.
Informed sources asserted, however
arrival of Nazi troops near Ceuta
could not be confirmed Some Sug-
gested the Germans might be mining
engineers loaned to Spanish Insurgent
Gen. Francisco Franco.
Malta Governor Present.
The meeting of admirals at Gibral-
tar was given increased significance
by the reported presence Of Lieut.
Gen. Sir Charles Bonham- Carter
Governor of Malta, Britain's central
Mediterranean naval base.
Ninety British warships and $4,000
regular army troops have been con-
centrated in strategic positions near
Spain, official sources disclosed today.
Forty-one naval units are in and
near the Mediterranean, while 49
additional are en- route to Spanish
waters.
British troop strength is divided
roughly as follows: Gibraltar, 2.670
men: Malta. $500, and Egypt, $500.
While London coupled the meeting
of the flag admirals with the return
to London of Prime Minister Stanley
Baldwin to meet his cabinet, Great
Britain again took the lead in a des-
perate attempt to keep Spain's civil
war within the peninsula.
England placed an absolute ban or
enlistment of her citizens on eithel
side and dispatched a new note tt
five principal powers asking to Dc
likewise.
Seek to Halt Volunteers.
The British note, sent to its Ambas.
sadors at Berlin, Rome. Moscow, Pari
and Lisbon, sought to plug the stream
of volunteers to Spain without wait.
ing for the slow-moving efforts of tn,
Non-intervention Committee.
In effect, Britain demanded thai
interested powers stop Intervention a
once, If they are sincere in their pro-
fessed desires to do so.
Off1cials were optimistic there woulc
be no fiat turn downs, but some source.
said cutting of British volunteers anc
asking others to follow suit would only
tie England's hands, while permitting
other nations to continue pouring vol
unteers into the little World War"
It was regarded as unlikely Chan
cellor Adolf Hitler of Germany woulc
be favorably inclined to the new ges-
ture. He set out definite conditions
for his participation in any non-in-
tervention scheme in answering q
previous demand.
Rome and Berlin In Harmony.
Rome was expected to act in close
harmony with Berlin, but here the
complicated picture took a strange
turn. The important political review
II Merlo emphasizes that Italy was
not favorably inclined to having Ger
many established as q power on the
Mediterranean through Moroccan in
fluence.
France. government sources said,
already had agreed to the ban on VOL
unteers and was devoting her atten-
ton to the reported influx Of Germans
into Morocco.
Her Atlantic and Mediterranean
fleets were Steaming to the troubled
waters near Gibraltar.
rROopC MASSCn IN MOROCCn.