THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1919, Page 5

THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

„ TREATY DELAYED. Df-HOPE OF ITALY RETUROTNG. Received May 5, 7.30 pan. Paris, May 5. The delay in handing over the Peace Treaty is officially ascribed to a desire that Italy should be present. A telegram will be sent to Rome, asking the delegation to resume its place at the Peace Conference. M. Clemenceau to-day read the main clauses of the treaty to his Ministers and Secretaries of State, and asked their approval and advice.—Aus v N,Z, C&ble Ann. A FIRM PROCEDURE. NO PARLEYING WITH THE ENEMY. , New York, May 3. The Paris correspondent of the New York Times states that the Council of Three has decided that the negotiations With the German delegates shall not be oral. The terms will be presented to the Germans, who will be given 15 days in Which to submit written objection's. It is expected that the Allies will take fire days to consider the objections. The peaoe terms will then be presented to the Germans, who will then be required to sign the treaty immediately.—Aus. N.ZCable Assoc ' Paris, April 30. Germany, under the peace terms, will lose 70 per cent, of her income, one-third of her coal, and 20 per cent, of her potash. She will lose between seven and eight million inhabitants, all her colonies' and all her ships—Aus. N.Z. Cable Association, CHINA AND JAPAN. CHINA'S CASE. Paris, May 3. The Chinese delegation has issued a statement declaring that they view with astonishment the Shantung settlement China came to the conference imbued with strong faith in the lofty principles of the Allies, as the basis for a just peace. The Chinese people will be disillusioned over the settlement. If there was reason to stand firm over Fiume there was all the more reason to uphold China's claim involving the future of 36 million souls, and the highest interest of peace in the Far East. By transferring Germany's rights to Japan the conference is perpetuating an act of aggression which has been resented by the Chinese since its perpetration. It is clear the council has been bestowing on Japan the rights not of Germany, but of China. The more j powerful ally has reaped benefits at the : expense of the weaker ally. The substitution becomes graver when the position of Japan in South Manchuria and Eastern Mongolia is read in connection with it. She is firmly . entrenched on both sides of the Gulf of Perchilli, the water outlet for Peking, with a hold on the three trunk lines issuing from Peking to the Test of China. The capital therefore becomes enslaved in the midst of Japanese influence. The Chinese understand that the decision of the council was prompted by the fact that Britain and France undertook in February or March, 101T, to support at the Peace Conference Japan's claims to the German rights at Shantung. The statement points out that China was no party to this secret pact, or aware of its contents when she became a belligerent, also Japan's claims appear incompatible with President Wilson's 14 points.—Aug.-N.Z. Cable Assn. AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER ENEMY POWERS. GERMANY TO HAVE NO VOICE. Received May 5, 11.45 p.m. Paris, May 4. It is understood that a clause inserted in the treaty prohibits Germany from having any voice in the agreements the Allies will make with Austria-Hungary, .[Bulgaria, Turkey, and Russia. It is alleged that the Germans at Versailles questioned the absence of Italian credentials from those submitted by the Allies, also the fact that all the Entente Power* had not yet recognised the new Jugo-81av Kingdom.—Aus.-N-Z. Cable Assn. ► THE BELGIAN ENVOY. Received May 6, 1 a.m. London, May 4. M Hymans, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, has gone from Paris to (Brussels, bearing fresh proposals.—Attn. N.Z. Cable Assoc.