EMPHATICALLY DENIED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 September 1938, Page 7

EMPHATICALLY DENIED

GENEVA RUMOUR REGARDING NEW ZEALAND DOMINION NOT AT VARIANCE WITH BRITAIN. ELECTRICAL ATMOSPHERE IN LEAGUE CIRCLES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Copyright. LONDON, September 14. The special correspondent of the Australian Associated Press at Geneva says that a statement in League and London circles that the British Government is concerned because New Zealand told Whitehall that she would not go to war over the Czechoslovakian issue can be emphatically denied. It was persistently rumoured in Geneva today that New Zealand was at variance with Britain over European policy, also that Australia, by implication, was unwilling to be dragged into a possible conflict. It is understood, however, that the question has never arisen in London. It is officially intimated that, as far as New Zealand is concerned, her attitude is unchanged since Mr Savage’s announcement that “If England goes to war, New Zealand goes to war, too,” arid that this attitude will not change. The correspondent adds that the European situation has completely submerged interest in the League’s business. The atmosphere at Geneva grows more electrical almost hourly. Several delegations were advised tonight by their Governments that war is now an hourly possibility, in which case the League will adjourn immediately and the delegations return home without delay. Thus the vast League building has become a place of intrigue and suspicion and war is the only topic of discussion in the corridors of the Palace of Peace.

MR JORDAN’S STAFF MEMBERS REFUSE TO SEEK SAFETY. REMAINING IN GENEVA. (Recd This Day, 10 a.m.) GENEVA, September 14. The Australian Associated Press special correspondent' at Geneva says that as a result of private advice that it might be safer to send his staff back to London without delay, the New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr W. J. Jordan, called a meeting at his hotel in the early hours of the morning and informed members of his staff that he would allow any to return if they wished. All four, Messrs Knowles and Campbell and Misses McKenzie and Hennam, without hesitation declared they would not leave Mr Jordan, despite the admitted danger of travelling should hostilities break out. Mr Jordan was greatly gratified with his staffs’ reaction, especially that of the women. The New Zealand and Australian delegations at 'Geneva sat up most of the night receiving hour by hour reports, none of which enabled them to escape the conviction that the situation was rapidly reaching breaking point.