Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1946. CONFLICT OF POLICY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 69, 2 January 1946, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1946. CONFLICT OF POLICY

The Powers controlling the various zones in Germany are faced with exceedingly difficult tasks, some of which are not likely to be solved for a considerable

time. Recently it appears that their difficulties were destined to he considerably accentuated by the decision of the Russians immediately to expel from their zone all Germans who had before or during the war lived in the

west, but it now seems that reports were not quite accurate. When the Allied armies went in from the west they found on their hands not only hundreds of thou-, sands of Allied prisoners of war, but some two million Allied civilians of all nationalities who had been carried away front their

homes by the Germans to work as “slave labour’’ on the land and in the factories of the Reich. This, the first of the “displaced persons’ problem was dealt with far more rapidly and effectively than seemed at first possible. These millions of.people were gathered

into “assembly centres” by special army detachments aided by UXRRA teams. They were sorted out, fed, medically treated, and as rapidly as possible, transferred to their own counties. Political difficulties held up for months the transfer of some

four hundred thousand Poles, Yugoslavs, and people of dubious nationality. But most of the Poles are now on thg way home. There will soon be only about a hundred thousand of these Allied “displaced persons” for whom provision has to be made. There

were stories that these people had been kept in conditions not much better than those at Bc-1-sen, but these have been disproved. The second phase of the “displaced persons” problem has now arisen, and a sudden flood from the Russian zone would upset all calculations and might even lead to the breakdown of all arrangements. The Russians have their problems in their zone, and a desire to be rid of westerners is understandable, but they must realise by now that the only way’ to reorganise the entire country is to regulate the flow. Success can only come through co-opera-tion, and up to the present this seems to have been lacking. With the winter at hand. ' food ar.d clothing are the main considerations. New Zealand has more than filled her clothing quota, but more will have to be done so far as food is concerned. The occupying Powers will need all the help they can get, and the conflict in policy apparent at the moment is crying out for solution.