Evening star., 1940-02-27
Churchill
Continued From First Page.)

York. September l6, and the Jellicoe
and the Beatty, November IL.
Apart from the aircraft carrier
Courageous, Royal Oak. Nelson and
Barham, no other large warships had
been sunk or damaged since the
outbreak of the war or during the
difficult winter months, Mr.. Churchill
asserted. The Courageous was tor
pedoed and sunk September 18 with
the loss of SIS lives.
Mr.. Churchill placed the net loss
of British merchant shipping at
less than 100000 tons out of a 2l,-
100000 total. He compared the
figure with that of 100000 tons lost
in single deadly month of April,
1917"
Each month has shown a steady
improvement in shipping, he said,
with the navy conveying into Brit
lsh harbors in January-"in the
teeth OF U-boats, mines and winter
gales and fogs"- considerably more
than four -fifths the peace time
average of the three preceding years.
Naval Appropriation Secret.
Mr.. Churchill gave these glimpses
into Britain's naval affairs in intro
ducing the navy appropriation bill
in Commons. The figures are kept
secret even from the NJ. P's, who
are asked merely to vote a f1O0
token appropriation, without know
ing how much actual money it
represents.
Mr.. Churchill simply asked the
House for "a few men, some ships
and little money"
In connection with the blockade
situation Mr.. Churchill said:
IF we had not got at the present
time an unquestioned superiority in
battleships, the German heavy
cruisers would come out into the
Atlantic Ocean and without fear of
being brought to account would be
able to obstruct if not arrest the
whole of the enormous trade with
out which we could not live.
Happily, we have far greater
strength in capital ships than the
enemy and if at any time they break
out as they may always do we are
always ready to meet t.am with
much larger forces and bring them
to battle and destroy them"
German Freighter Captured.
Before Mr. Churchill faced Com
mons British warship was reported
to have captured the German
freighter Wahehe, 4,707 tons, foiling
an attempt to run the British
blockade from Vigo. Spain. and pre-
venting the ship from being scut-
tied.
The Wahehe was listed as the
25th German vessel captured dur
ing the war and increased total
captured tonnage to 98, ,29O. In addi-
ton, % German ships totaling
152,891 tons are listed as destroyed
by Scuttling or other causes.
British and neutral shipping loss
es for the week ending Sunday
night were reported by British au-
thorities as the lowest of any week
in the war. -Four British ships of
| 17,778 tons and three neutrals of
$3.50 tons were reported sunk.
The report was in contrast with
the previous week, in which losses
| of British and Is neutral ships,
with total tonnage of 86,O77, were
the wars highest for one week.
Submarines were blamed for only
one sinking last week, compared
with 74524 tons of the previous
weeks losses.
The minister of economic warfare
Hugh Cross, assured Commons there
were no serious loopholes in the al
lied blockade which permit shipment
of United States and other neutral
goods to Germany.
A check is being considered, how
ever, on shipments from the United
States to Vladivostok, Soviet Pacific
port, because of increased trade in
that direction, he said.
Trade with Russia brought an i'm
piled rebuke to the United States
from Laborite William Leach in the
House of Commons. He asked
whether it did not show that Amer
lea prefers mammon to democracy
The question came at the end OF
an exchange in which Mr Cross said
the government was considering q
check on shipments through Vladi-
vostok, Soviet Far Eastern port, and
it stirred members to laughter.
Mr.. Cross replied that he had moi
approached the United States for as.
SllranceS that materials were heinz