PEACE OR WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 August 1939, Page 7

PEACE OR WAR

CHOICE WITH GERMAN GOVERNMENT BRITAIN WAITING QUIETLY. NO HALT IN PREPARATION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 29. The Press finds much cause for reassurance in events abroad. The “Daily Telegraph” (Ind. Conservative) says: “World opinion is swinging to our side. The good faith of German policy has never suffered a more damaging blow than by the conclusion of the Russo-German Treaty. On the British side preparations for whatever may happen are being made methodically.” The "Daily Herald" (Labour), which, in weighing factors for peace, notes appreciatively Signor Mussolini’s assurance to Mr Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada) that he is working for peace, says: "The choice is in the hands of the German Government. 11 the sane ways of peaceful men are rejected and appeal is made to force, the fault will not be ours.” All other newspapers comment in a similar strain. ACTIVE & PASSIVE DEFENCE. The British preparations to meet all eventualities proceed quietly and relentlessly. They cover the whole range of active and passive defence. Included among the latter may be mentioned the issue of regulations under the Emergency Defence Act which reproduce broadly those which were found valuable in the Great War. notice of the mobilisation of foreign securities ensuring that they can be retained in British ownership, forming an invaluable financial reserve should the Government have need of large purchases abroad, the temporary closing of the Mediterranean to British merchant ships, and the warning to vessels to leave the Baltic without delav. These and other regulations of which they are an instalment crystallise the experience gained slowly and painfully during 1914-18. No murmur of disapproval has been raised at the Government assuming wide powers dictated by common sense at a time of emergency. They are in line with the ptrolic determination that hostilities, if once begun, must end in victory. SUPPORT FOR MINISTERS. Britain, like the rest of the world, awaits Herr Hitler's reply. The sympathetic cheers with which Ministers have been greeted by crowds in and around Downing Street during the recent days of crisis were echoed today in the reception given by the‘House of Commons to the Prime Minister in recognition of the heavy burden of responsibility he is carrying. That there is no immediate respite in prospect was clear from the opening sentences of his statement. . The Foreign Secretary and Lord Cadogan spent some time in consultation with the Premier at No 10 Downing Street this afternoon and later Mr Chamberlain went to the Palace to report to his Majesty on lhe day’s developments. Mr Eden called at the Foreign Office this evening and saw Lord Halifax for an hour. The Queen returned from Balmoral and joined lhe King at Buckingham Palace this morning.