PEACE & GUARANTEES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 October 1938, Page 4

PEACE & GUARANTEES

TEXT OF AGREEMENT (Continued from page 7.) (2) Britain, France and Italy agree that the evacuation shall be completed by October 10 without the destruction of any existing installations, and that Czechoslovakia bears the responsibility of seeing that the evacuation be carried out without damage to the aforesaid installations. (3) The conditions governing the evacuation will be laid down in detail by an international commission composed of representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia. (4) The occupation by stages of predominantly German territory by German troops will begin on October 1, the four territories marked on the attached map being occupied by German troops in the following order. (The communique then set out the dates of occupation extending from October 1 to October 7; the first territory shall be occupied by October 1 and 2, the second by October 2 and 3, the third by October 4 and 5, and the fourth by October 6 and 7). The remaining territories of predominately German character will be ascertained forthwith by the aforesaid international commission, and be occupied by German troops by October 10. (5) The commission referred to in clause 3 will determine the territories in which plebiscites will be held. These will be occupied by international bodies until the plebiscites are completed. The commission will also fix the conditions for holding the plebiscite, taking the Saar plebiscite as a basis, and will also fix a date not later than the end of November for the plebiscite. (6) Final determination of the frontiers will be cleared up by the commission, which will be entitled to recommend to Britain, Germany, France and Italy in certain exceptional cases minor modifications in the strictly ethnological determination of the zones trasferred without plebiscites. (7) There will be a right of transfer into and out of transferred territory, exercisable within six months of the date of the agreement. A GermanCzech commission shall determine details of the option, consider ways of facilitating the transfer of populations, and settle questions of principle arising out of the transfers. (2) The Czccli Government, within a month of the agreement, will release from the military and police forces any Sudetens so desiring, and will also release Sudeten political prisoners. In an annex to the agreement it is stated that Britain and France have entered into an agreement to stand by the offer of paragraph six.of the AngloFrench proposals of September 19 relating to an international guarantee of the new boundaries of the Czech State against unprovoked aggression. The annex adds that when the questions of the Polish and Hungarian minorities have been settled, Italy and Germany will give a guarantee to Czechoslovakia. If the Polish and Hungarian minorities problems are not settled within three months by agreement between the respective Governments, they will be reconsidered al another four-Powcr conference.

A supplementary declaration . says: “All questions arising out of the transfer of territories shall be ccnsioeieo as coming within the terms of reference of the international commission.” The commission referred to in the third clause will consist of the German Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the French, British and Italian Ambassadors in Berlin, and also a Czech representative.