CZECHS SHOCKED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 86, 8 October 1938, Page 9

CZECHS SHOCKED

NEW BOUNDARIES

REGARDED AS HARSH

PLAN SAID TO BE EXCEEDED

1910 POPULATION BASIS

By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright, LONDON, October 7.

Reuters' Prague correspondent says that the public are stunned by what they regard as the harshness of the boundaries of the fifth zone to he occupied by the Germans. It appears that the Austrian census of 1910 was accepted as the basis for establishing the population as over 50 per cent. German. Thus towns like Policka, where now there is not even 1 per cent, of German population, must be handed over. It is suggested that the Germans insisted on the cession of this area because it contains large munitions factories. It is feared that 800,000 Czechs will pass under German rule^ or be given the option of leaving their homes within six months. M. Mastny, Czech Minister in Berlin, told the International Commission that the Czechs acknowledged the frontiers! of the fifth zone with profound regret, but would undertake to carry out the measure for implementing the decision. The Prague correspondent of "The Times", says that the details of the fifth zone provided the heaviest and most unexpected shock of the crisis. The zone will cut deeply within a few miles of the country's three main industrial towns, and will exceed in area * the other four zones combined. It brings the German frontier within three miles of Pilsen, eight miles of Brno, and four miles of Mahrisch Ostrau. THE GOVERNMENT AGHAST. The Government and the public are aghast, declaring that even the Godesberg demands are being exceeded and that almost every plebiscite area is included in the fifth zone. An official broadcast said that the new boundaries were submitted to the Czechs in the form of an ultimatum and that protests were unheeded. The Prague correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" says that Germany was given carte blanche to annex large^numbers of almost purely Czech districts. The new line is far worse than that which Mr. Chamberlain declared was unacceptable, and has resulted in a furious outburst of indignation against Britain and Franca The main railway lines from Prague to Slovakia, Moravia, Hungary, and Poland will' now traverse German territory, and ihe main roads have been cut. The Berlin correspondent of the -"Daily Mail" says that well-informed Nazis declare that the fifth zone, as defined by the International Commission, includes all districts'* bordering on the Reich. Therefore, it is argued, no plebiscites will be held in the other areas unless the Czechs require them, which is considered unlikely, COMMISSION'S WORK HASTENED. The Berlin correspondent of "The Times" says that the resiign^tion of President Benes has greatly hastened the work of the International Commission. It is understood that the limits of the German occupation on October 10 will roughly determine the future German-Czech frontiers. The representative of the British United Press in Berlin says it is reliably reported that a plebiscite will be held in the Sudetenland similar to that which was held in Austria for demonstration purposes.