HOLLAND & BELGIUM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1939, Page 5

HOLLAND & BELGIUM

..REPLIES TO PEACE APPEAL DISCUSSED BY FOREIGN MINISTERS. EXAMINATION BY GERMANY PROMISED. By Telegraph —Press Association —Copyright BRUSSELS. November 13. Hotli Ihe Brilish and b'l-ench replies to the peace appeal offer made by Queen Wilhelmina and King Leopold have been received by Holland and Belgium and are being examined. The Belgian Foreign Minister. M. Spaak. has gone to The Hague to confer with the Dutch Minister. Mr Van Kleffcns, regarding the replies. His departure followed several long telephone talks between King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina. M. Spaak also saw the German Ambassador before leaving and was assured that the German Government intended to examine the appeal. The meeting of the Belgian and Netherlands Foreign Ministers was at Breda, and they talked for three hours before adjourning for lunch. The “Daily Mail’s' Amsterdam correspondent says that the talks will be resumed in the afternoon till midnight. It is understood that in addition to discussing the British and French replies they are also considering the German announcement that Germany is ready to examine the mediation offer. The “News Chronicle’s” Brussels correspondent says it is suggested in some quarters that if Herr Hitler answers and does not close the door King Leopold may produce his own plans.

Some hopes of peace are still entertained in the Netherlands, a Daventry report states. There has been considerable diplomatic activity in Belgium and Holland. Soon after the British and French replies to the peace move were received the Queen of Holland and the King of the Belgians had a telephone conversation and the Belgian and Netherlands Foreign Ministers met. Queen Wilhelmina also gave an audience to the United States Minister in Holland. Contact with the German side has been made by the Belgian Foreign Minister who received the German Ambassador. The Dutch Prime Minister, in a broadcast, said the measures taken were purely precautionary. The position was no more acute now than it was in the first days of September. It was their duty to prepare for all eventualities. RUMOURS DENOUNCED BROADCAST BY DUTCH PREMIER. MENACE TO NETHERLANDS DENIED. (Received This Day. 10 a.m.) THE HAGUE. November 13. The Premier, Baron de Geer, in a broadcast, said there was not the least ground for the wild rumours circulating recently about an acute menace to the Netherlands. The sole basis for this seemed to have been foreign broadcasts, Press reports and some measures taken by the Government. These measures were not due to any increased danger, but were a precautionary mobilisation. They were not ordered because Netherlands neutrality was menaced. “There is no more acute danger than in the first days of September." the Premier declared. "During the last war similar measures were taken, not because of imminent danger, but because circumstances put greater demands on our preparedness. The present mobilisation is not because we have not trusted the word given by both warring sides that our neutrality would be respected. but because it is our duty to be prepared for all eventualities. The Netherlands Government believes in the sincerity of the words of both warring parties. This provides another stimulus to our strict neutrality.” NAZI ATTITUDE FREE HAND DEMANDED IN CENTRAL EUROPE. LONDON, November 13. The Belgian Foreign Office states that the Breda talks between the Dutch and Belgian Foreign Ministers exclusively dealt with the mediation offer. At The Hague Queen Wilhelmina received the United States Minister, believed to be in connection with mediation. Berlin radio states that Herr Hitler has not replied to the Belgo-Dutch appeal but in Munich clearly announced that Germany demands Britain's abstention from interference in Central Europe, as a condition for peace. The stalemate on the Western Front would continue only so long as the diplomatic game concerning the mediation offer was still on.