A PLOT THAT FAILED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 214, 29 November 1927, Page 11

A PLOT THAT FAILED

Writer on Soviet War Scare GERMAN CO-OPERATION SOUGHT By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Received 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Monday. 'THE Berlin correspondent of the “Weekly Dispatch’’ says - that the Soviet’s plot to secure Germany’s co-operation in alarming the world by proclaiming a danger of war in Eastern Europe, has failed.

o x „ the eve of the Geneva Conference, the Soviet has been trying to get on the European political stage in a role as guardian of peace, and it therefore invented the story of the danger of a war from which it alone was able to save Europe. The difficulties existing between Lithuania and Poland have been exploited by the Soviet's propaganda agents, and for days they were engineering a preliminary newspaper campaign. 'This culminated in the presentation of the Soviet’s Note to Warsaw, written by M. G. V. the cleverest intriguer in Europe, and Lit-

vinoffs visit to Herr Stresemann, the German Foreign Minister, in an attempt to bolster a grotesque war scare. “Stresemann’s organ, “Taglische Rundschau,” denies that the Cabinet even discussed Litvinoff’s visit and points out that Marshal Pilsudski, Prime Minister of Poland, would not have gone almost ostentatiously to Vilna if Poland had actually been plotting an attack on Lithuania. “Furthermore, it denies that Germany intends to make represent ations to Kovno or Warsaw. Thus the Bolsheviks got no encouragement in Berlin, to pose as the saviours of Europe from an imaginary war, and then circulate the hat to a grateful audience for badly-needed money.”—A. and N.Z.

WHAT POLAND ASKS FRIENDLY RELATIONS ONLY LEAGUE TO INQUIRE (British Official "Wireless.) Reed. 11.30 a.m. RUGBY, Monday. Although the unsatisfactory relations which have existed for some time between Poland and Lithuania have undoubtedly developed into a situation of some tension, the view generally of the British Press is that, despite undoubted dangers, many of the reports received exaggerate this state of affairs. The League Council, which meets next Monday, will take up consideration of the issues involved. The Lithuanian Government recently invoked Article 11 of the Covenant in reference to Polish actions during the schools dispute last #month, and now Polish Government has decided to direct the League Council’s attention to a continuance of the so-called “state of war” between Lithuania and Poland, a condition which precludes normal diplomatic relations between the two members of the League. The Polish Government will request the League to use its influence to end this abnormal state of affairs. In the meantime the Polish Government, as a means of dispersing current rumours, has explicity declared that it has no intention of infringing territorial independence, and that it requires only the establishment of friendly relations between the two countries. British Press comment urges the advisability, upon the Governments concerned, of maintaining discretion, both in action and word. The situation is to be fully examined. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs was asked to-day in the House of Commons whether his attention had been called to the grave position between Poland and Lithuania. Mr. Godfrey Locker-Lampson, Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, replying, said: “The Government has watched with grave anxiety the growing tension between Poland and Lithuania. It is, however, relieved by the fact that the Council of the League of Nations is about to examine this question at Geneva, and it trusts that a settlement may result, which will restore friendly relations between the two States. It has no confirmation of the alarmist rumours which have appeared in the Press, and it is confident that neither Poland nor Lithuania will be so unwise as to take any rash action while the deliberations of the League are pending. “The Polish Government has, indeed, just assured the Powers represented on the Council of the League that it has no designs against Lithuania's political independence and territorial integrity, and that it only desires restoration of normal relations, and the termination by Lithuania of the state of war which she maintains against Poland.—A. and N.Z.