"LAST BID" INTERVIEW

Chronicle (Levin), 19 August 1948, Page 5

"LAST BID" INTERVIEW

( N.Z.P.A. — .

Reuter

British Envoy Told To Again Se§ Stailn a

Covuright)

i Received Thursday, 11 a.m. LONBQN, August 18. The British Government has sent instructions to its envoy in Moscow, Mr. Frank Roberts, to seek a "last bidV interview with Marshal Stalin, according to Reuter's diplomatic correspondent. The impression prevails that the Western envoys have reached a deadlock with Mr. Molotov. If the further meeting with Marshal Stalin, which is tho,ught probable before the end of the week, fails to produce a decision to call a four-power conference on Germany, the present series of talks is likely to be called off and Mr. Roberts summoned home.

Freneh Foreign Office sources said that they were increasingly pessimistic about the Moscow talks, which had- bogged down over de~ tails, says the Associated Press' Paris correspondent. Informants said that they saw no , lightening of international tension through these negotiations. These sources said that Marshal Stalin, after the Western envoys had outlined the principal problems in connection with Germany, said "We ought to be able to work these things out. Take them up with Mr. Molotov." But once the envoys reached Mr. Molotov the discussions degenerated into a bickering over detail such as had marked all the post-war East-West negotiations. The informants em- : phasised that the talks had not ! produced a single point of argree-i ment over Berlin.

Despite the French view, diplomatic circles in London believe that the talks, whether they brought agreement or not, have cleared the air about the German problem. If agreement is reached, the present talks will have relieved the Foreign Ministers of much preparatory work. It is reliably learned that the Western Powers have so far worked on the assumption that it would prove possible to find a basis- for four-power negotiations, and have not worked out a plan of action in case the Moscow talks fail. They have not, for instance, so far decided whether to take the Berlin blockade issue to the United Nations. Diplomatic quarters, however, consider that such a j eourse is fairly probable, but it is I regarded more as a possible tactiI cal move than a measure likely to [bring the blockade to an end.