BETTER OUTLOOK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 May 1938, Page 7

BETTER OUTLOOK

FOLLOWING ON HENLEIN’S VISIT TO LONDON MODERATION IN DEMANDS ANTICIPATED. REPORTED INTIMATION BY GERMANY LONDON, May 15. The “Sunday Times” says the prospects of a peaceful Czechoslovakian settlement have been improved as the result of the visit of Herr Henlein, leader of the Sudeten Germans; as he left the impression that he would not press his demands oyer-obstinately. The “Sunday Dispatch’s” diplomatic correspondent says Germany has informed Britain that she has no intention of forcefully achieving her aims in Czechoslovakia provided the RussianCzech alliance is dropped, but she is prepared to fight if faced with a French-Russian-Czech combination. Herr Henlein visited the Czech Ambassador in London, M. Masaryk, and returned home by air via Berlin. Yesterday Herr Henlein and Sir Archibald Sinclair, leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, lunched at Mr Winston Churchill’s flat. Interviewed at the entrance to the flat, Herr Henlein’s British host said: “Herr Henlein wishes to make contact with a few friends at a moment when people are baffled over events in Czechoslovakia.”

Herr Henlein was surrounded by the utmost secrecy. The telephone in his bedroom at the hotel at which he stayed was disconnected, and the hotel was guarded, while several police prevented interviewers entering. MINORITIES STATUTE CZECHOSLOVAKIA’S BASIS FOR SOLUTION REPLIES TO GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE PRAGUE, May 15. The Cabinet’s political committee has completed the main outlines of the new minorities statute which an official communique says “constitutes a basis for the integral solution of the Czech minority problems.” It adds that the Government is now ready to enter concrete negotiations with the Sudeten Germans and other interested parties. The Government has replied to the British and French representations promising that everything possible will be done to satisfy the Sudetens. It is reported that the Czecho-Ger-man trade negotiations are proceeding satisfactorily.