WORLD OUTLOOK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 April 1939, Page 8

WORLD OUTLOOK

SURVEY BY LORD HALIFAX RUMOURS REGARDING TANGIER DISCOUNTED. HOPES OF AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.55 a.m.) RUGBY, April 19. The Foreign Minister (Viscount Halifax), in a foreign affairs debate in the House of Lords, dealt with a number of questions, including rumours regarding Spain, the negotiations with Russia and President Roosevelt's peace move. He also announced that Sir N. Henderson (British Ambassador) would very soon return to Berlin. Regarding Spain, Lord Halifax said there had been a great number of rumours regarding troop movements and Italian troops in Spain and added: “I have made careful inquiries and we are perpetually watching the situation and sifting all information which reaches us, but all I can say is that our information received al the present time shows that too much credence ought not to be paid to these reports.” Regarding the negotiations with Moscow, Lord Halifax said: “I don’t think there is anything I can say at the present time, beyond that we are engaged in the active pursuit of these negotiations and I have every hope that the recognition of different points of view will enable us to make that progress we all desire.' 'Lord Strabolgi, who asked if the negotiations included the question of the Pacific, Lord Halifax replied that he would not exclude the possibility of the conversations being more widely extended. Speaking of President Roosevelts message, the Foreign Secretary said it had alreadv been made clear that Britain found itself in essential agreement with its outlook on • international relationships. As to President Roosevelt's suggestion about considering the economic side, Britain was prepared to play its part in that matter. With reference to the general negotiations in progress as a result of recent events in Europe, Lord rlaliiax said it would-be quite fantastic to think that the consultations Britain had been engaged in and-, the guarantees it had given covered any aggressive designs on its part. “If war ever came to the world, he said, “it would, as far as the people o 1 this country are concerned, only be because they would feel that there was no other way of defending the causes and values which to them are more important than life itself.”