GERMANY AND POLAND

DIPLOMATIC VISIT

UKRAINIAN QUESTION

The-status of the. free city of Danzig and other aspeqts .of the relationship between Germany and Poland are referred-to-in. a.-message from the Warsaw correspondent of "The Times" dealing with. the. Visit to Warsaw towards the eno:..of January of the German Foreign..-, Minister (Herr yon Ribbentrop) to return; the visit paid by the Polish Foreign ■Minister to Berlin in; 1935. •■^•-7v..

Nothing like a full.; account of what | was decided has yet'been given, but it is fairly certain that an understanding has been reached, on three points: I the question of, a Great Ukraine, relations with the; Soviet Union, and the status of the Free City of Danzig, the message states. On these three I points at least the Foreign Ministers have harmonised their policies for the present and immediate future. There is to be no eastern drive this spring for the creation of an independent Ukraine. Agreement on this point was not difficult to reach, for a glance | at the map and a consideration of conditions in Soviet Ukraine—now almost a terra incognita, without even Consulates through which, a foreign State might keep in touch with local events and conditions—show plainly that a venture in this direction could not be achieved without careful preparation for come years, unless Germany had the full support of Poland, or Rumania, or both. The second point was also not difficult, for if there were to be no Ukrainian question this spring there could scarcely be.any active operations against the Soviet Union. Poland had already reaffirmed her non-aggression and . other pacts with the Soviet Government at the end of November, and. Germany had; followed on December 19 by prolonging once more her trade agreement with the Soviet Union until the end of 1939. Poland'has sent a delegation to Moscow, which is working out a new and more comprehensive trade agreement with the Soviet Government; and Germany is sending negotiators to Moscow for a similar purpose. STATUS OF DANZIG. Notwithstanding appearances and the clashing of wills in Danzig itself the relations, between Warsaw and Berlin in respect of the Free City are better today than they had been for a long time before Colonel Beck's meeting with Herr Hitler. Poland has agreed to make a 'virtue of necessity by not obstructing the Nazification of Danzig, which she recognizes as a pre-eminently German town. But Polish rights and privileges in Danzig, particularly in the port and harbour, are to remain intact, for Poland must have this seaport as well as Gdynia. There appears to be something near unanimity in Poland today in regard to what would-happen if Germany sought, to-include Danzig in the Reich. Poles in of out .of responsible office and the average intelligent man in the | street reply, if asked: "That would mean war." If told they would have no chance of winning in an armed plash with Germany, they reply: "Poles fight for their rights even when there is no chance of winning." Some add that Germany knows this, so there-will be no fight. . The Polish Press, in discussing the reaffirmed understanding with Ger- ! naaiiy,. is;-,fairly';; uniform in the' con-I-elusion-mat" it is good ;for Poland, but some newspapers say .it is of even greater value to Germany today, as it frees her hand to tackle whatever" problem she has in the West. The Kurjer Polski, the organ of heavy ! industry, represents the understand- | ing as a "key" without which Germany would have difficulty in unlocking the doors she wishes to open. From other articles it appears that the doors which Germany -wishes to open are doors' through which" she .may' -again. obtain possession of oversea colonies.