ROTHERMERE'S PLAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 117, 14 November 1939, Page 9

ROTHERMERE'S PLAN

SALVATION OF EUROPE . ; RELATIONS WITH WIEDEMANN .'; EVIDENCE'IN COURT

(B.v Telenrapl)—Press Association— CopyrlgUt.l , , > (Received November 14, 11 a.m.) .' • - * LONDON, November 13. At the resumption of the .case in which the Viennese Princess Stefanie /- s of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schilling-fuerst sued Lord Rothermere, the\ newspaper magnate, for breach •of ; x ! contract, Lord Rothermete, in giving .^ evidence, denied that he had <paid the " ".' Princess for her silence. >.He said , that between July, 1932, and Januf \. - ary, 1938, he paid her "considerably • \ more than £51,000." • v > He was in touch'" with Hungarian • magnates in 1932 who wanted.,to re- .^ store the Habsburgs but could not - .; afford a proper income. • He therefore "* offered to contribute £25,000 for five '•. years. ' . • Lord Rothermere emphasised that ne ' advocated justice for Hungary entirely ' 0 on his own' initiative because hps < thought that on the death, of Hinden- ..., ;-, burg the whole of Central Europe • ■<•( might be in the melting pot and that * the restoration of .the Hohenzollern* ,'; and the Habsburgs was the only way to "•' stabilise the position. • i CHANGED HIS VIEW. ,;/ ' Questioned on his relations with Hit-. ■: j ler's aide, Captain Fritz Wiedemann, , 'b the former Qerman Consul-General ia .""*•> San Francisco,' Lord Rothermere1 stated- \* that he once thought Wiedemann was of ; .-^ very high character, but changed his .:, view in the autumn' of v 1938 when ~.-•* Wiedemann and the Princess brought.,, , ,f improper pressure to-be_ar on'him^-';-?:'^; settle the action. - - - -„•• ? Mr. Beyfus, counsel for Princess ;v^; Stefanie, read a cable which Lord.-.j-'. I.X Rothermere sent Wiedemann early in ■•' *'} 1939, stating: "Everyone is aware: that .^ ,-^f. no, conduct of yours is at .any time ' • I* capable of censure." t '■:'"{% Lord Rothermere said: "The Prime \\n Minister and others in London,wanted- -v-v----to be on the best possible terms with. .-. •/ Germany. Therefore,-, I telegraphed,- -, Wiedemann in that strain 1 because I ~-,-^ knew he had great influence and would , , ; VU be able to carry on the Munich spirit.' . >