DRIFT INTO WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 December 1938, Page 7

DRIFT INTO WAR

PERILOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS IN EUROPE

SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER’S

OBSERVATIONS.

REFUGEE AND OTHER PROBLEMS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 11.5 a.m.) RUGBY, December 5.

In a statement made on his return to London after his Continental tour, Mr O. Pirow, South African Minister of Defence, declares: —“Europe is drifting into war—war which no nation wants, but against which every Government is preparing. Unless there is a complete change of outlook within the next month or two, international tension will reach its breaking point during the spring of next year. “The tragedy of the situation is,” Mr Pirow added, “that since the settlement of the Czechoslovakian issue, there is no principle at stake which would excuse war, let alone make it inevitable. The drift to war is caused purely by psychological factors. Regarding the refugee problem, Mr Pirow expresses an opinion that it is capable of comparatively easy settlement if approached in the right spirit, and he suggests an international loan, raised by the countries of origin, but guaranteed by other Great Powers, to provide funds to take the place of the assets the refugees are forbidden to take out with them. But he finds that the right spirit is lacking, and thinks the international attitude of the refugee question is symptomatic of a state of mind which is not prepared to make a substantial sacrifice for peace.” “So long as that state of mind persists the drift to war—a drift with an increasing momentum —will he said. It is understood that Mr Pirow leaves London on Friday for South Africa.