ACTION BY U.S.A.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 March 1939, Page 5

ACTION BY U.S.A.

VIGOROUS NOTE EXPECTED CONDEMNATION OF NAZI ANNEXATION. TALK OF SEVERING DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyrighl. WASHINGTON March 19. The Acting Secretary of State. Mr. Sumner Welles, in collaboration with President Roosevelt, has completed a draft of a vigorous formal Note to Germany condemning the annexation of Czechoslovakia and indicating further parallel action with England and France “to stop Hitler’s drive.” The Note will probably be published here and in Berlin tomorrow. It is believed here that it may result in severing diplomatic relations. It is understood that the Note may go further than Mr Welles’s informal denunciation, even excoriating the Nazis as a menace to civilisation. Speculation is at present centring on whether the United States will drop the thin remnants of traditional aloofness from European affairs to participate in a conference with England, France and Russia to determine ways and means of halting Hitler’s march to the East. American participation in such a conference would be certain to meet with stiff Congressional opposition and it is possible that the Administration will not chance it, preferring to aid in a less direct manner. UNDER REVIEW WHOLE EUROPEAN SITUATION. CHAMBERLAIN’S STATEMENT.

(British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.29 a.m.) RUGBY, March 20.

Mr Neville Chamberlain, replying in the House of Commons to a question relating to consultation with other Governments adhering to the principles of the League Covenant and the Kellogg Pact on common measures of defence against unprovoked aggression, emphasised that the whole situation was at .present under review by the Government. He declined to accept a suggestion that military representatives should accompany Mr J. H. Hudson to Warsaw and Moscow, pointing out that the object of Mr Hudson’s mission was an economic one.

Mr Chamberlain also made clear that a statement in his Birmingham speech that every aspect of national life must be revised in light of the country’s national safety covered the question of a revision of the national defence programme. GERMAN EXCUSES i CARRY SCANT CONVICTIONS LORD HALIFAX REVIEWS POSITION. OUTSIDE INFLUENCE APPARENT ' IN RECENT EVENTS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 20. An unusually large' attendance of peers heard Lord Harifax’s statement in the House of Lords. He began by reviewing the explanations or excuses offered by the German apologist for the actions of Herr Hitler’s Government —explanations which, he said, carried scant conviction. It was impossible to believe that the sudden decision of certain Slovak leaders to break away from Prague, followed by a request for German protection, was reached independently, outside of influence. As to the alleged maltreatment of the German minority, it was only very shortly before Herr Hitler’s ultimatum to Dr Hacha that the German Press renewed its campaign of last summer on behalf of minorities, which had been deliberately encouraged to remain in Czechoslovakia, after Munich, as the centres of German activity and propaganda. It was difficult to avoid the conclusion that the bulk of the incidents held out as justifying German intervention were deliberately provoked. Coming to the visit of Dr Hacha to Berlin and the suggestion that he freely consented to the subjugation of his people, Lord Halifax observed: “In view of the circumstances in which he came to Berlin and of the occupation of Czech territory, which had already taken place, I think most sensible people must conclude that there was little pretence of negotiation, and it is more probable that the Czech representatives were presented with an ultimatum under threat of violence, and that they capitulated in order to save their people from the horrors of a swift destructive aerial bombardment.”

The Foreign Secretary then referred to the British protest, the cancellation of the trade minister’s visit to Berlin and the recall of the Ambassador. The Government, he said, felt that the development of understanding on trade matters was now out of the question and that many other things would have to remain indefinitely postponed. After defending the Munich settlement and policy which followed it as one not personal to the Premier, but supported by himself, and the whole Cabinet and as fully justified, Lord Halifax said the long term policy envisaged in the Hitler-Chamberlain declaration of building up a peaceful Europe on the basis of free consultation on all differences had been disastrously belied by events. What inference, he asked, are we to draw from this pressure, exercised under threat of force and intervention in the internal struggles of other states? “Every country which is Germany’s neighbour is now uncertain of tomorrow and every country which values its national identity and sovereignty stands warned against dangers from within, and inspired from without,” he said. After mentioning the denial of the Rumanian Government of the reported German ultimatum on trade matters, he said whatever the position might be, it was not surprising if the Government at Bucharest, like other Governments. should view with the gravest misgivings the happenings of the last few days. ,