(Continued from, page 2)
The Altmark, Lord Halifax pointed out, acted asa prison ship. The British Government wishes to know, Lord Halifax was declared to have told M. Colban, why Norwegian warships were found in close proximity to the Altmark if Norway considered the German vessel to be merely en "inoffensive merchant ship." In concluding the interview, the Foreign Secretary is understood to have requested the Norwegian envoy to draw his Government's attention to the humanitarian aspect of the affair, for the Britons aboard the Altmark were kept in conditions altogether contrary to all rules of warfare.
International law formally provides that good treatment be accorded prisoners-of-war, Treatment on the Altmark did not meet this fundamental requirement.
In these circumstances, British political quarters stated, it would have been "inconceivable" for H.M.S. Cossack not to have received an order to rescue the British prisoners when they were treated by the enemy in a "revolting manner."—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.