Dr. de Oliveira Salazar Discounts Rumours Lisbon, Oct. 16, The Premier, Dr. A, de Oliveira Salazar, had a narrow escape from death today when his car collided with a speeding taxi. Dr. Salazar was not even injured. The taxi-driver was arrested, but the Premier ordered his release, merely caution ing him to be "more careful in the future."
"The idea that our colonies are coveted by someone else appears to me to be without sense," Dr. Salazar declared today.
Countering rumours that Germany's colonial claims might be met at the expense of the smaller countries, particularly Portugal, he asserted, "Britain, by our treaties of alliance, has.engaged herself to defend them and no one can accuse France of nourishing such plans."
"Berlin declared its demands for colonies which bore only upon lands formerly German-governed.
"But let us leave this subject....We will not admit any discussion of our sovereignty. Our possessions abroad were not taken at the expense of any other nation; we discovered them and they have always been ours."
Dr. Salazar concluded, "our alliance with Britain will be all the stronger when the rights and obligations for which it provides balance
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.