London, Feb. 18.
Diplomatic quarters revealed that during the Halifax-Colban meeting yesterday, the British Foreign Secrelary presented a series of questions which he requested, should be transmitted to the Norwegian Government, The Foreign Office communique confirmed that such questions were asked, but did not give much detail of the queries put by Lord Halifax.
He first asked if, as the character of the ship Altmark was commonly known, she was searched by the Norwegian authorities at Bergen and what they had found on board if they had carried out a search. Had the Norwegian authorities found the British prisoners aboard, what decisions would they have taken; would they have left the men on the Altmark? Why did Norway consider the Altmark to be an "inoffensive merchant vessel" whereas in reality she had played the role of an auxiliary to the late German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee prior to the latter's scuttling on December 17 off Montevideo, Uruguay?
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.