ATMOSPHERE OF PESSIMISM

Chronicle (Levin), 14 August 1948, Page 5

ATMOSPHERE OF PESSIMISM

(N.Z.P.A

. — Reuter

Crisis Reached In Kremlin Talks

CovvriQht)

Received Friday, 7 p.m. LONDON, August 13. Yesterday 's Kremlin talks between the Western envoys and •Mr. Molotov were held in an atmosphere of more pessimism than ' hitherto, according to the iDaily TelegraphVs diplomatie correspondent. Official secrecy abont the progress of th'e neg'otiations is still maintained, but the correspondent says thete seems little doubt tliat a crisis had been reached at.the end of last Monday's talks. It is believed, he adds, that the Western envoys were instructed to tell Mr. Molotov yesterday that his .previous proposals were nnacceptable and that the earlier position outlined by the' envoys was maintained. This position is that the Berlin blockade must be lifted before there can be any more four-Power talks on Germany. It is, therefore, diffieult to see how the negotiations ,can continue nnless the Russians are prepared to make a last-minute change in their poliey. The Russian demands are believed to b^ unaltered. TIia Wfistfirn pnvnvs in Mnscnw this hv-nnss lines rolmd Berlin. makino

at'ternoon had their fourt! meeting with Mr Molotov since the present negotiations opened on the Berlin situation. Mr. Frank Roberts, General Bedell Smith and M. Chataigneau saw the Soviet Foreign Minister at the Xremlin for nearly three hours. Wheti the envoys let't the Kremlin General Bedell ■Smith said he did not think this wouid he the last meeting. All three envoys loolted more elieerful than after the previous meetings. The Moseovv correspondent of the Associated Press reports that General Bedell Smith said: " We are Still vvithout any conclusions. " The British United Press Moscow correspondent says it is believed, but without ollieial confirmation, that there will be another meeting with Mr. Molotov, probal»ly on Salurdav, and a {inal meeting with Mr. Stalin, possibly two davs later. The conclusion of the Moscow talks eannot long be delayed, according to the diplomatie correspondent of the Times. The Western Powers have nevfer faltered from ihe stand that the Berlin blockade must be lifted before beginning negotiations and, if a basis for negotiation has been fouiul, an early statement may be expected. The Times points out that the Russian I'ress lias been emphasising its concern over the proposed setttingup of a provisional German regiine in Western Germany. Ameriean military police forced the withdrawal of a squad of Russian military police and Sov iet-controlled German poliee who had crossed into the Ameriean sector of Berlin, says, the Berlin correspondent of the AsSociated Press^ Ameriean poliee officials said there was violence. -Most of the Russian police were stopped at Ihe border while the German forces crossed . into the Ameriean sector, but somPof the Russians helped the Germans to search Ameriean sector houses. In another ■ ineident, at the Potsdamer Platz, in Central Berlin, Bovietcontrolled German police, supported by Russian military police, crossed into the British and Ameriean sectors to arrest Germans in the streets. These were forced to withdraw when a squad of Western German policemen was ruslied to the borders. Tn both eases the Russians claiined that the raiders were rounding up blaek marketeers. An Ameriean official reported that the Russians hhd coinpleted telej^lione

4' L / themseives completely independent of the trunk exchanges in the Western sectors. Reuter's Berlin eorrespondent says the Soviet newspaper Taegliclie Runschau nlleged that British and the Ameriean aircraft are bringing into Eastern Germany Jarge sums of German coins of ionall denomination whicli retained their worth in the Eastern Zone but lost tlieir valne in the Western Zones when ihe new currencies were introduced. The newspaper alleged that money smuggling was threatening to disrupt the Eastern Zone's economy.,. Two United States Planes Crash Two United States airlift planes er'ashed on the Templehof aerodrome while landing in a heavy rainstornf, says the Associated Press' Berlin correspondent. One aircraft smashed through a fende and eaught fire but the crew of two escaped through the. emergency hateh without serious mjurv. The other aircraft landed on a half-completed runwav and was heavil.v damaged. The crew were unhurt. United States and British aircraft sharing the task equallv broke the Berlin airlift record by bringing seventy-eight plane loads of food and coal in in the last 24 hours. Aircraft have c.arried 1)0,000 tons of food and fuel to the German population in Berlin since the end of .Turie besides hun(lreds of tons of supplies for the British, Ameriean, and French comniunities. This amount is sufficient to sustain the German population but represents only one-tliird of the total brought by the Western Powers to Berlin bv train, barge and lorrv before the (Rockdale.A purge of anti-Communists has been going on in the Russian /.one of Germany for the past motiti), says the British United Press 's Berlin correspondent. The newspaper So/.ial Demokrat reports 300 arrests in the Dresdon area alone. Eifteen faetorv managerSf post offiee oiiieials and judges are said to have -been dismissed. All warehouse stocks in the Western sectors of Berlin have been fro/.en to permit the stocktaking and to conserve stocks for critical use«. The Soviet seeret police have arrested tnanv people 111 Saxony in the last few weeks, reports the British licensod newspaper, Telegraf, and all trace has been lost of them. They include 3" . l.iberal Democrats, 00 Soeialis-t Uiiitv Party members and several Christiaii Democrats.