POLES REJECT MEDIATION

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22524, 5 October 1938, Page 11

POLES REJECT MEDIATION

! BRITISH AMBASSADOR I 1 SENT AWAY ! - i | REPORTED REFUSAL OF INTERVIEW

[bitter press attacks on i WESTERN powers } (trwiTED PBKas ttsociATioa—oopratoßT.) (Received October 4, 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 4. The Warsaw correspondent of the • "Daily Telegraph" reveals that the i Foreign Minister. (Colonel Beck) re--1 fused to see the British Ambassador (Sir Howard Kennard) on October 1, regarding the ultimatum to Czechoslovakia. He instructed an official to tell Sir Howard Kennard, that the intervention was untimely and unwanted.

The newspapers unanimously declared that further reliance on the Western Powers is meaningless, and urge the speeding up of rearmament to enable Poland to assume the role of a big Power. Bitter contempt for France, which is certain to extend to Britain, is not hidden in the official newspapers, which make play on the term "Western illusionists."

Simultaneously admiration, mingled with fear, is expressed for Germany. There are jibes at "the queue of foreign Ambassadors outside the Foreign Office with the belated mediation and advice," • obviously chiefly directed against Britain and France. SYMPATHY FOR DR. BENES SPEECH BY FOREIGN SECRETARY (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIULEBS.) RUGBY, October 3. j In a statement in the House of Lords the Foreign Secretary (Lord Halifax) offered the sympathy *'of the House and the country to President Benes and Czechoslovakia's peoples. Faced by a grim dilemma Dr. Benes had played his part, and history would accord him a special place for the wisdom of his choice, for without his decision a European war would not have been avoided. Lord Halifax said the Czechoslovak Government, in view of the economic and financial difficulties with which it was faced, had asked for a guaranteed loan of £30,000,000. A similar request had not been addressed to any other Government, and the matter was one which obviously called for consideration, but as this was a manifestly urgent case, the Government had decided to grant credit of £10,000,000 immediately, through the Bank of England. • • • The Foreign Secretary also defended the guarantee for the new Czechoslovak frontier. He said to guarantee Czechoslovakia's boundaries when she had large, restless, and dissatisfied minorities was one thing, and the new guarantee with those explosive , minorities removed was another.

According to a Press Association message, Lord Halifax made the statement that Russia was not invited to Munich because it was recognised that in the present circumstances Germany and Italy would almost certainly be reluctant to sit with the Soviet representative.

"It has been said," he added, "that if during the last three months Britain had said she would resist any unprovoked aggression against Czechoslovakia, no such aggression would have been made. We never felt in a position to make that statement. We could no doubt have engaged in a war of indefinite duration, but if we had won nobody would have redrawn the Czech boundaries as they were left by the Treaty of Versailles. "Herr Hitler had a great triumph, and I for one, would grudge him nothing of that triumph in view of the contribution he made to settle-

ment in his preference for arbitrament rather than catastrophic war." PEACE THANKSGIVING FUNDS SUGGESTIONS MADE IN LONDON (Received October 4, 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 3. The Archbishop of York, in a letter to "The Times," suggests that the Government estimate the cost of one week's war and offer the amount to Czechoslovakia for material losses and for the assistance of refugees. Lord Strabolgi endorses the idea of a national tribute fund for the refugees, and asserts that if it was called the "Chamberlain Fund" heavy contributions would be forthcoming from Germany. The offerings from a special service at Westminster Abbey are being devoted to the Czechs.