WILHELM MUST NOT RETURN FROM EXILE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 45, 16 May 1927, Page 1

WILHELM MUST NOT RETURN FROM EXILE

REICHSTAG TO PASS BILL EXTENDING BAN By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright BERLIN, Saturday. The Nationalists have agreed to the prolongation for two years of the law for the protection of the Repub lie. Under this the return of the exKaiser to Germany is prevented. The Government accordingly will submit a bill to the Reichstag.—A. and N.Z. FEARS OF HIS RETURN PRUSSIAN PREMIER’S WARNING Herr Braun, the Prussian Premier, recently wrote to Herr Marx the Chancellor of the Reich, asking + ke Reich Government's intention with regard to the prolongation of the law for the defence of the republic, which expires on July 21 next, especially paragraph 23, which contains a safe guard against the return of the former Kaiser to reside in Germany. After pointing out that, with the expiration of the law, if no special measures were enacted, there would be no means of proceeding against movements - or organisations with anti-reublican aims, the Prussian Premier devoted the second half of his letter to the possibility of a return of the former Kaiser, to prevent which, in the opinion of the Prussian Government, steps should be taken, especially in view of the fact that the former ruling house had attached particular importance in the negotiations for the property settlements to the schloss at Homburg an der Hohe being placed at the disposal of the former Kaiser as a place of residence if required. IN INTERESTS OF PEACE Whatever may be the truth with regard to Press rumours of preparations for a return, the Prussian Government thinks it absolutely necessary in the interests of peace and public order for some legislative safeguard to be provided. It prefers a prolongation of the law for the defence of the republic, as considerable unrest might be caused by the introduction of fresh legislation, for which, indeed, Herr Braun significantly remarks, the necessary majority might not be forthcoming. The Prussian Government requests an early reply to its inquiries, so that if the Reich is not going to take the necessary measures it may have sufficient time to consider what steps it shall take itself with a view to preventing the return of the former Kaiser and King, at any rate to Prussian territory. HERMIONE’S INTENTIONS The Secretary of State calls atten tion to Press reports to the effect that the wife of the former Kaiser, the Princess Hermione, intends shortly to occupy the Kaiser Wilhelm I. palace in the Unter den Linden, left in possession of the Hohenzollerns under the property settlements. He says he has reason to believe that these reports are not without foundation, and the Prussian Government has strong objections. Colonel von Kleist, the Hohenzollerns’ representative, in reply, admits that one or two rooms in the palace are being made a little more habitable in order to provide the wife of the former ruling emperor with a pied-a-terre, but no more, wherefore the Press -eports are “entirely incorrect.”