London, Aug. 11
The British Government has not yet received a reply to the protest which the British Ambassador at Hendaye, Sir Henry Chilton, was instructed to lodge at Salamanca regarding the bombing of the British oil tanker. British Corporal. on August 6, but the Nationalist naval authorities at Palma have acknowledged the protest made last week by Rear-Admiral Wells commanding the Third Cruiser Squadron, Press forecasts of Gen. Francisco Franco's reply suggest that the presence of Nationalist aircraft off Algiers last Friday will be denied. In London there is no longer any doubt that the three aircraft concerned in the attack on the British Corporal were engaged in the civil war against the Spanish Republican Government and, in fact, on the occasion of the naval protest, it is understood that the Nationalist commander at Palma admitted the aircraft in question were under his orders, While, therefore, ready to believe the attack may have been due to a mistake, it may be assumed that the British Government could not accept a reply on the lines predicted in_the pre messages.
By good fortune no serious damage or personal injury resulted from the bombing and machine-gunning of the British ship. The objective of the British protest, therefore, is to assure that the Nationalist authorities will take proper steps to prevent the recurrence of such incidents—Wireless through Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.