EASING TENSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1938, Page 7

EASING TENSION

BRITISH EFFORT FOR PEACF IN EUROPE OBSTACLES TO FURTHER PROGRESS UNDERSTANDING DESIRED WITH GERMANY (British Official Wireless) RUGBY. June 1. The policy of appeasement which Britain has been pursuing and which has met with such notable and encouraging success in the Anglo-Italian agreement, cannot, it is recognised in London, be looked upon to produce immediate further beneficial results while the international situation is subject, to tension arising from the position ; n Spain and from the problem of the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

As regards Spain, it is earnestly hoped in London that the NonIntervention Committee’s scheme for the withdrawal of non-Spanish combatants will be put into effect with the least possible delay The Spanish situation, as it stands, is obstructing good understanding between Rome and Paris, besides postponing the coming into force of the Anglo-Italian agreement.

But while for these reasons Britain attaches the greatest importance to implementing the programme of the NonIntervention Committee, official circles in London are known to feel that a really satisfactory outcome of the Spanish situation can only ensue if means should be found to bring about a cessation of hostilities.

It may be assumed that Britain will keep close watch and take soundings from time to time in the hope that an opportunity may occur whereby outside Powers might influence the situation with a view to establishing a Government in Spain which might enjoy some measure of general support. The situation in Central Europe, which has shown hopeful signs of a detente in the past fortnight, continues to engage the attention of the British Government, which now has the advantage of first-hand impressions collected by the head of the Central European Department of the Foreign Office during a tour which he has just completed in Paris, Berlin and Prague.

The British attitude is well known, and there can be no relaxation of the influence Britain has consistently exerted in favour of moderation, concession and peaceful understanding. So long as these preoccupations exist, however, there is less possibility of a policy of appeasement making early progress in the direction of seeking that consolidation of friendly relations between Britain and Germany which the British Government desire to promote.

If a peaceful solution is found to the Sudeten question and satisfactory relations are in consequence established between Germany and Czechoslovakia, it appears that such a settlement, to which British good offices might be considered to have made an important contribution, would afford a fresh opportuunity in London and Berlin for a friendly consideration of Anglo-Ger-man relations.

PACT OF PARIS BRITAIN IN AGREEMENT WITH AMERICA STATEMENT BY PREMIER (British Official Wireless). RUGBY, June 1. Mr Chamberlain was asked in the House of Commons whether, in view of recent developments in Central Europe, the Government would associate itself with the recent declaration by Mr Hull, United States Secretary of State, on behalf of America concerning the Kellogg Pact. Mr Chamberlain, in reply, said that the British Government was in full agreement with the views expressed by Mr Hull. “I need hardly add,” said the Premier, "that, on its part, Great Britain is fully resolved to respect the obligation entered into in signing the Pact of Paris.” The statement issued by Mr Cordell Hull on May 27 took the form of a reminder to the Governments of Europe of their obligations under the Kellog Pact (Pact of Paris) to keep the peace. The pact provided for- the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy.