1 November 1939

WASHINGTON The House of Representatives met at 11 a.m., 16:00 GMT, to debate Representative James Shanley's motion instructing the House members of the conference with the Senate on the Neutrality Bill.

LONDON Two German warships of the Deutschland type have been reported operating in the Atlantic, one in the north and the other in the south, Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, told the House of Commons today.

LONDON Britain has not declared a blockade of Germany but has set up a system of control over contraband going to Germany directly or through neutral countries, Ronald Cross, the Minister of Economic Warfare, has told the House of Commons, according to British Official Wireless.

HELSINKI The Finnish Government says Vyacheslav Molotov has created a new and most difficult situation by publishing the Soviet demands just as the Finnish delegation left for Moscow with its reply, according to a Helsinki communiqué reported from London. The talks had been confidential, and his statement must naturally delay them, the communiqué says.

LONDON Queen Elizabeth will broadcast an Armistice Day message to the women of Britain and the Empire on 11 November, according to a London message. She will speak for five minutes that evening.

NEW YORK The British freighter Coulmore has sent a radio message asking for help because she had sighted a submarine, and has since been silent, according to a New York message.

LONDON The American freighter City of Flint is steaming a devious course through the islands and fiords of the Norwegian coast, with her German prize crew apparently aiming to reach Germany almost wholly in Norwegian waters, according to a London message. A Norwegian destroyer is following her to guard against any breach of neutrality.

WASHINGTON President Roosevelt has warned Americans against selling essential goods that the United States does not produce, according to a Washington message. It is authoritatively stated that the warning arose from Soviet efforts to buy 10,000 tons of rubber in America, presumably for Germany, since Russia is well supplied.

LONDON The British Government has reluctantly suspended for the duration of the war its offer to encourage a fund for the re-emigration of refugees, if other governments co-operated, Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary, told the House of Commons, according to a London message.

SHANGHAI Wang Ching-wei has received tentative approval from the Japanese military authorities to launch a new Central Chinese Government at the end of December, the Shanghai correspondent of the United Press of America writes.

HONG KONG Forty people have been killed after a launch towing junks entered a minefield at the entrance to Hong Kong harbour, according to a Hong Kong message, and 11 have been rescued.

HELSINKI The Finnish Cabinet met immediately after Vyacheslav Molotov's speech and sat until it issued a statement early this morning, according to a London message. The speech has caused a sensation in Helsinki because it is held to break an agreement that neither side would reveal the negotiations, the Helsinki correspondent of the British United Press writes.

LONDON Italy and Greece will shortly sign a non-aggression pact, it is learned in London, according to British Official Wireless. Informed circles in London expect it to have a stabilising influence in the Mediterranean, and welcome it.

ROME Mussolini's Cabinet reshuffle appears to strengthen Italy's neutrality, the Rome correspondent of the British United Press writes. The new Ministers are experts suited to a vigorous policy of trade and diplomacy, he says, and many people see the removal of Dino Alfieri and Achille Starace as the start of a drift from the Rome-Berlin Axis.

LONDON About 120,000 dock workers in Britain will receive a wage increase of one shilling a day from 13 November, according to a London message. The minimum daily wage will be 14s at the large ports and 13s at the smaller ones.

BERLIN The German Supreme Command puts its losses from enemy action on the Western Front between 3 September and 17 October at 196 dead, 356 wounded and 114 missing, according to a Berlin message. Losses have changed little since, and 11 aircraft have been lost, it says.

PARIS British fighters had their first chance to engage German bombers over France on Monday and shot one down, a Dornier, the Air Ministry announced. Two German aircraft were attacked flying high, and the second escaped into the clouds.

LONDON Germany's official news agency has denied Allied statements that a third of the German U-boats have been sunk or damaged, according to a London message. It says losses are confined to three U-boats known to be overdue.

LONDON Six barristers who sit on Home Office tribunals have written to The Times corroborating the British White Paper on the treatment of prisoners in German concentration camps, according to a London message. They include Sir George Bonner, Tristram Beresford, K.C., Walter Odgers, K.C., and John Thorpe, K.C., the Recorder of Blackburn.

MOSCOW Vyacheslav Molotov told the Supreme Soviet last night that the Soviet Union wants a pact with Finland like those it has made with the Baltic states, according to a London message. Russia is interested in the Gulf of Finland, he said, but does not want the Aaland Islands and is making no demands on Sweden or Norway.

SYDNEY Australia's air expeditionary force, still being formed, will stay at home, Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister, announced after a meeting of the Federal Cabinet, according to a Sydney message. Australia's air plans have been recast after talks with the British Government and will depend on the Ottawa air conference.

BOMBAY The Congress Ministry of the Bombay Presidency has resigned, according to a Bombay message. A message from Patna says the Congress Ministry of Bihar has also resigned.

WASHINGTON The House of Representatives has agreed to a Rules Committee resolution sending the Neutrality Bill to a conference with the Senate, the Congressional Record shows. A motion to close debate on the resolution carried by 237 votes to 177.

ROME Ettore Muti, aged 37, has replaced Achille Starace as Secretary-General of the Fascist Party in Mussolini's reshuffle, according to a Rome message. Six Ministers have resigned.

WASHINGTON The State Department has told Britain and Germany that it expects all countries at war to guard against exposing the Americans aboard the City of Flint to unnecessary danger, according to a London message.

AMSTERDAM Dutch newspapers have published in full the British White Paper on the treatment of prisoners in German concentration camps, and the reports have shocked Holland, according to an Amsterdam message.