FALSE REPORTS OF CRISES

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 145, 15 March 1939, Page 9

FALSE REPORTS OF CRISES

Halifax Denounces Scaremongers APPEAL TO PUBLIC FOR DISCRETION Britain’s Foreign Policy The Only Safe One (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 13. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, in a speech in Sunderland today, expressed his considered opinion that there had been no occasion during tlje past few years when British policy on a major international issue could have followed a different line from the one it had followed without grave risk of leading to a major European war.

It was not surprising, went on Lord Halifax, that many nerves were taut and overstrained at the present time. “Events occurring in some parts of Europe are represented as a crisis regardless of whether they concern us or not,” he said.

“The air is constantly filled also ■with sensational rumours of what is going to happen, and some people take little trouble to distinguish between fact and fiction. Maybe it suits some people to propagate rumours and spread distorted views. This means that a heavy responsibility is laid on the Press, perhaps a heavier’one her® than in other countries, owing to our freedom. Alleged Intentions. “I appeal to both those who write % and those who read the newspapers to weigh carefully all reports of the alleged intentions of foreign. Governments. Distorted or sensational presentation of foreign news is not only dangerous in itself, but tends to defeat the purposes we all have at heart.” Referring to Spain, Lord Halifax spoke strongly of a suggestion that Britain’s action regarding Minorca, in placing a warship at the disposal of General Franco’s peace envoy, constituted intervention in the Spanish civil war. It was nothing of the sort. The invitation to facilitate discussion between the opposing sides was a tribute to British impartiality, and Britain acted as it did to save human life. Lord Halifax added that the recognition of General Franco did not mean approval of the form of the Government recognized. General Franco’s Government commanded the allegiance of the great majority of the inhabitants of Spain, and thus was an authority with which other Governments must have official contacts, Britain, while working steadfastly for peace, would continue to take whatever steps were necessary to give the country strength and self-confidence, as circumstances demanded. He added, in regard to the decline in Britisli shipbuilding, that the Government was considering the question of reserve tonnage in the evcif of an emergency.