GREAT DECISIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1943, Page 3

GREAT DECISIONS

OF WORLD SIGNIFICANCE REACHED AT CAIRO & TEHERAN FOREIGN SECRETARY’S SURVEY MR CHURCHILL STILL ABROAD (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) RUGBY, December 14. Opening a Iwo-clay debate in flie House of Commons on flie war sit nation, Hie Foreign Secretary (i\l.r Eden) said lie well understood Hie disappointment. the House would feel that- Mr Churchill was unable himself to give a firsthand account of Ihe Ihree international conferences in which he had played a leading part. but. there was work for him to do in the sphere where he now was. Mr Eden said that into three very strenuous weeks had been compressed three conferences of world significance, any one of which in ordinary times would have taken a month. i “I do not believe that the Prime Minister, even ardent as we know him to be for work, ever devoted more hours a day and also ( at night, to unremitting labours than during these conferences,” said Mr Eden. “In spite of this I left him, although perhaps a little tired, in good health, stout of heart and most confident in spirit.” MILITARY UNITY CONFERENCE The greater part of the first Cairo . and the Teheran conferences. Mr Eden continued, was taken up with military matters. It was possible to bring these matters to a state of completeness in collective preparation far exceeding anything hitherto possible. That was well expressed in a communique which brought to the Allied people a message it had never yet been possible to give them. The words of the communique must sound ominously in the ears of tfie German leaders and those of Germany's unhappy satellites. Speaking of the Cairo conference and dealing with the war against Japan, Mr Eden said: "We took the opportunity to set out the political principles for which we are fighting. We are committed to objectives which are set out for the first time internationally because we understand that to destroy Germany and then make a compromise peace with Japan would only sow the seeds of a. third world war. Even if" we are compelled to devote the greater part of our resources to the task of defeating Germany, we are still principals in the Far Eastern war. Japan is just as great a menace to the British Commonwealth as to China and the United States. We should be utterly unworthy of our heritage if we did not at the earliest possible moment deploy all our resources to establish the security of Australia, New Zealand and Canada on a firm basis. “At the Teheran conference.'’ Mr Eden said, “there was a welcome absence of formality. In this way all working hours and many normally devoted to sleep wore used in discussing every topic. Work at Teheran began where work at Moscow left off. As a first result, the war will be shortened. The close co-ordination of al! our plans shows clearly that we can do bettor where there is a close interplay of every move. Wc have not had that until now. In due course the decisions of the conference will be unrolled on the field of battle, but even this is not all, because victory is a means to an end and the end is a peace that will last.” FIRM INTERNATIONAL ORDER. From the‘moment the last shot was fired, Mr Eden observed, the German game once again would be to sow doubt and confusion and so to prepare the next challenge. A recurrent threat of war could be met only if there was an international order firmer in strength and unity than any enemy could challenge. “Six months ago,” said Mr Eden, “I could not have given an assurance of complete co-operation after the war, but today I can give an emphatic yes. 'The foundations exist and there is a desire among the three Powers for continued co-operation, the maintenance of orderly progress and conditions of peace.” TALKS WITH TURKEY. While he was unable to give details of the confidential discussions with Turkish representatives,* Mr Eden stated, he had good hopes they would be found to establish a sound basis for future co-operation between Britain, Russia, the United States and Turkey. Regarding the Lebanese crisis, Mr Eden said he understood General Catroux would return to Beirut to tiy to bring about a modus viyendi. He earnestly hoped the negotiations would be conducted in a conciliatory spirit by both sides and would lead to early agreement. Mr Eden addressed a message to )the people of France, whose sufferings had been harsh and cruel. “Their’s has been a long ordeal which perhaps, but for the hazard of geography, the British people might have had to share,” he said. “We believe that this great people, 40 million strong, enriched by its moral and intellectual qualities, will find the spirit to lift itself up from the heavy blows of last four years. We believe that in the galkintrv of the French forces in Tunisia and Libya and in the heroic resistance movement we have the real soul of France.” The House cheered when Mr Eden said that to France and all occupied countries we extended sympathy and confidence. We were not seeking to impose a Three Power will on Europe. We sought to liberate these countries and enable each to take its place m the European family again.