POLAND AND DANZIG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1939, Page 7

POLAND AND DANZIG

NAZI DEMAND REJECTED Foreign Minister’s Declaration ASKS WHAT IS GERMANY’S REAL AIM CONDITIONS OF PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT By Telegraph—Press Association. —Copyright. WARSA W, May 5. The Foreign Minister, Colonel Beck, matte his eagerlyawaited speech in the Diet today in reply to Herr Hitler’s speech last week concerning the position of Danzig. . Colonel Beck said that the population of Danzig was admittedly predominately German but the city’s livelihood and prosperity depended on Poland, who firmly stood by her rights of overseas trade and maritime policy in the Free City. “When I hear the demand for the annexation of Danzig by the Reich, when I do not get a reply to our proposal of March 25 for a common guarantee of the rights of the ree City, and when I learn that it has been interpreted as a refusal to negotiate, 1 must ask what is the real aim of all this. Is it meant' to bar Poland from the Baltic? Boland will not let herself be barred. “We have suggested aji extension of the present road transport facilities Through the corridor, but we have no grounds for restricting our sovereignty over our own territory. The Reich seems to be demanding one-sided concessions in these matters. “Two conditions are necessary for peace to have any real meaning: First, peaceful intentions; and, secondly, peaceful methods of action. If the Reich is guided by these principles, all conversations respecting the proposals I have outlined are possible. “If the conversations materialised, Poland would not refuse her goodwill. Poles do not know the conception of peace at any price. One thing without price is honour.’’