REPLY TO SPAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 85, 12 April 1937, Page 9

REPLY TO SPAIN

BRITISH NOTE

END TO INTERFERENCE

{British Official Wireless.) (Received, April 12, noon.) RUGBY, April 11

A Fdreigri Office', communique states:—"As certain organs of the foreign Press have on occasions shown misconception of. the attitude of his Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom towards the proposals contained in the-memorandum of February 9 last from the Spanish Government, more particularly so far as those proposals concerned the Spanish zone of Morocco, the text of the reply of his Majesty's Government is given below in order to : avoid any further misunderstanding in the! matter."

, The communication which is addressed to the Spanish Ambassador in London dated March 20 states: "The present unhappy position in Spain has been a sourceof great anxiety and concern to his Majesty's-Government and it has been and will continue to be its earnest desire to do' everything in its power which might cpntribute towards shortening the conflict and sparing further sufferings to the Spanish people. His Majesty's Government notes that the immediate object of M. del Vayo's proposal is to obtain' the cessation of any kind of foreign interference in the affairs of Spain. As the Spanish Government is aware, this has been the guiding principle of his Majesty's Government's policy since the commencement of the civil war, and although this policy, owing to the necessity for obtaining an international agreement, has unfortunately, been met with many difficulties, the Government is confident that the agreement which has now been reached by the London Non-intervention Committee will provide an effective guarantee against munitions and volunteers reaching Spain from foreign countries. FULL SYMPATHY. M. del Vayo stresses the importance of further steps being taken for the withdrawal of foreign nationals in the armed forces in Spain, and his Majesty's Government is in full sympathy with the Spanish. Government on this point. It is one to which the Non-intervention Committee will give its most serious consideration, and it is the earnest desire of his Majesty's Government that it may be found practicable to reach a solution which' will commend itself to the Spanish Government and contribute to a final settlement of the civil war. His Majesty's Government realises that the termination of the present troubles will find the Spanish Government faced with serious problems, both external and internal. His Majesty's Government is convinced, however, that, actuated as it is solely by motives of sympathy and friendship for Spain and the Spanish people, it is in the best interests of Spain that his Majesty's Government should confine its efforts to, securing in as complete a form as possible the non-interference of foreign countries in the Spanish conflict. It is happy to think that this object-is one which the Spanish Government has most at heart, and it cannot but feel that the other problems to which M. del Vayo refers should await the return of peaceful conditions in Spain."

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