PEACE TALK.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1918, Page 5

PEACE TALK.

THE RUSSIAN NtjOTIAI'IO.^S. GERMAN ASSERTIVENESS. STATEMENT BY TROTSKY. FHE POINT 01' DirrEREXCE WITHDRAWAL OF ARMY. Received .Jan. 20, 5.5 p.m. London, .Tan. 19. Trotsky, at Monday's sitting of the Austro-Ci'ernian and Russian commission, took note of Baron von Kuhlmann's declaration tliat territorial negotiations rested exclusively on the political will of the German Government. Trotsky denied that his Government outlawed anyone differing from it, til added that when Roumania resorted to force on Russian territory against revolutionary soldiers and workmen, he an/1 his fellowdelegates recommended the Petrograd Government to arrest the Roumanian ambassador and hi* staffi *nA he had been informed that this had already been done. Baron von Kuhlmann emphasised the fact that Baron Hertling had issued instructions regarding the whole field of foreign policy, and that there was no divergence betweph Kuhlmann's and Hoffman's conceptions. The fundamental difference between the Central Powers and tlx* Russian delegation was that the Central Powers wished to see an orderly State arising in those regions without any break or violent transition. They were opposed to the idea of creating a vacuum and allowing the establishment of a State within that vacuum. Trotsky denied that the withdrawal of the army of occupation would create a vacuum and contended that the peoples of Poland. Lithuania, and Courlnnd would in no way find themselves in a difficult political situation if the army was withdrawn. Finally, at Kuhlmann's instance, it was agreed to discuss the four Russian points seriatim. Wireless Russian report: Trotsky in .1 proclamation accuses the Germans of misrepresenting the Brest proceedings with the intention of misleading the German public

GERMAN SLIMNESS. OVER SELF-DEXERMINATION POLICY. ARMY REMAINING IN OCCUPATION. THE UKRAINIAN NEGOTIATIONS. Received Jan. 20, 11.40 p.m. . By Wireless. —Admiralty Press. London, Jan. in. A Russian report from Brest-Litovsk states that Baron von Kuhlmann has indicated that Germany is willing to organise, not later than a year after a general peace has been declared, an extensive consultation with the peoples of Poland, Lithuania and Courland, for selfdetermination. Trotsky urged that the date should depend upon the people of the Eastern front, not upon a general peace.

Kuhlmann, after several attempts at evasion, declared that Germany could not undertake any obligation to recall the army-in occupation.

The German report of the separate negotiations between the Central Powers and the Ukrainians states that the results achieved justify the hope that they will reach a satisfactory conclusion.