BALKAN TANGLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1940, Page 5

BALKAN TANGLE

DIFFICULTIES OF AXIS POWERS

IN EFFORT TO IMPOSE SETTLEMENT. DEMANDS ON RUMANIA. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 28. Some such development as tomorrow’s conference in Vienna was expected as soon as it became apparent that the parties had not succeeded in carrying out the instructions dictated some weeks ago when the Danubian statesmen attended Salzburg.

It was accepted throughout the world that,these instructions were to reach accommodation between themselves without delay so as to alleviate tension and the danger of hostilities which might prove embarrassing to the Axis partners. Failing agreement between the parties, a settlement would be imposed. r Incidents between the Hungarian and Rumanian armed forces, of which there have been reports, no doubt account for the urgent summons to Vienna.

The meeting there will not be the first of this kind since the Austrian capital came under Nazi domination. Diplomatic observers in London are recalling another meeting at which a settlement was effected.

On November 2, 1938, Germany and Italy imposed a so-called arbitral award on Czechoslovakia, by which she was forced to cede portions of her territory to Hungary. The arbitration was undertaken ostensibly at the request of the Czechoslovak Government as well as that of Hungary, but the result, in fact, was one further stage in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, which became a vassal State of Germany. The precedent is not exactly happy in its implications for the Rumanian people, whose attachment to Transylvania is deep and sincere, as is shown by their sturdy resistance to the idea of accepting the inflated Hungarian claims. Whatever the terms with which Rumania may find herself confronted at Vienna, a large part of the Rumanian people will not be deluded. They will realise that by agreeing to the award of the Axis Powers Rumania will have done nothing to assure the remains of her independence.

The Rumanians will delude themselves, it is said, if they believe that by acceding to Hungary’s demands they will be left in peace. Their attachment to Transylvania is deep and sincere, and they have already shown their determination to resist any claims to that territory. Their determination will no doubt be strengthened by the realisation that cession of Transylvania will not be the least of the humiliations that the Axis Powers will impose upon them. The necessity for the Vienna meeting is generally regarded as a rebuff for Germany, whose previous efforts to secure a peaceful settlement of Hungary’s claims in Transylvania ended in complete failure; in fact, relations between Rumania and Hungary have been getting increasingly worse, leading up to last night, when the semi-official Hungarian telegraphic agency issued a statement virtually accusing Rumania of preparing an act of war against Hungary. Rumania replied by saying that the whole incident was caused by the flight of the Hungarian aeroplane which dropped propaganda leaflets over Transylvania. So far the Rumanian attitude toward Hungary’s demands for 14 provinces of Transylvania has remained a firm refusal, and public opinion against yielding to Hungary is as strong as ever.

On the Hungarian side it is still insisted that Hungary will not be satisfied with the exchange of population which Rumania is said to have proposed. RELATIONS WITH SOVIET A Reuter message transmitted by Daventry states that it is reliably reported in Bucharest that the Rumanian Minister in Moscow has received certain assurances concerning RussianRumanian relations from M. Molotov.