NOT SURPRISED

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 9

NOT SURPRISED

FEELING IN BRITAIN CAROL’S DICTATORSHIP PEOPLE NOT CONSULTED (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 7, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. C The abdication of King Carol in favour cf the Crown Prince Michael has caused littlp surprise here. Although King Carol’s endeavours to save his country were recognised as sincere, it was all along felt that his methods were misguided and that the dictatorship which he established without consulting the voice of the people would inevitably crumble when a serious reverse was met. The present crisis was precipitated when, by the arbitrary act of their King, the Rumanian people were faced with the loss of a precious part of their country. Observers here had foreseen that all efforts by King Carol to save his country from invasion, by endeavouring to meet the Axis Powers halfway, were doomed to failure, and his rejection of the British guarantee, while it absolves the British Government from ail responsibility for the difficulties in which King Carol now finds himself has proved quite ineffectual as a means of safeguarding the integrity of the kingdom. After abortive attempts to settle the Transylvanian question by direct negotiations with Hungary, King Carol and his Government were compelled to accept the Vienna award on August 30, and ceded, in accordance with the Axis award, two-thirds ot Transylvania to Hungary. The New Dictator General Antonescu, King Michael’s new Premier, who is seen to be virtual Dictator, was Chief of Operations in the Rumanian Army in the last war. He is well known in London, where for many years he served a military attache to the Rumanian Legation. As to the Vienna award itself, which modifies Rumania’s frontier with Hungary, it was imposed upon Rumania under duress. Any speculation upon the length of its life or its effects is regarded here as worthless. Viscount Halifax indicated the view of the British Government on this subject yesterday when he said: “We do not propose during the war to recognise territorial changes unless they are freely agreed between the parties concerned. We certainly hope that at the end of the war there will be a settlement on lines so just and equitable as to give hope of its guarantee, and to that end the British Government will use all its influence.”