ONLY SPARK NEEDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19979, 3 July 1939, Page 5

ONLY SPARK NEEDED

GLOOMY VIEW IN PARIS FAITH OF M. LEBRUN CALL OF DEMOCRACIES OReed. July 3, 11.30 a.m.) PARIS, July 2. The French press yesterday was pessimistic, agreeing that only a spark is needed to blow up the powder keg that Herr Hitler has planted in Danzig. It is also felt that the speech by the British Foreign Secretary, Viscount. Halifax, was too late to make a decisive impression on Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini who, it is feared, are committed too deeply to go back.

A French Cabinet communique says that the Premier,M. Daladier yesterday informed the Cabinet ot the general situation, which is very serious, and explained the measures taken to strengthen France’s actibn and to dispel doubts entertained concerning it now. It is understood that the Cabinet decided to back Poland fully in the event of a move against Danzig.

The Cabinet appropriated a further £24,237,237 for armaments. The French Chief of Staff, Marshal Gamelin, who was recalled, returned to-day from an inspection Of the alpine fortifications and conferred with M. Daladier. The President of France, M. Lebrun, in a speech at Montpellier, said: “France feels that if the nations could express themselves by a sincere plebiscite, the majority would join the Western democracies in the effort to organise a peace front."