ALLIES READY

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 126, 28 May 1919, Page 5

ALLIES READY

IF GERMANS DO NOT SIGN.

REFERENDUM MAY BE TAKEN.

MODERATION OF THE TERMS

(Received 11.25 a.m.)

LOXDOX, May 27. Prolonged discussions are being held by the German Government for the purpose of propounding counter-proposals based on President WilsOn's fourteen points. A Berlin newspaper predicts that the Government will arrange a referendum of the whole nation on the question of acceptance or refusal of the Treaty in the event of the Allies refusing to make concessions. Anti-Entente feeling is so strong in Berlin that British and American officers have been ordered to wear mufti lest they incite the populaceIt is understood on good authority that German counter-proposals regarding the Saar Valley agrees to the surrender of the coal, but insist on the retention of political jurisdiction. Crowds made a demonstration outside ihe headquarters of the American misdon in Hamburg. The speakers fiercely protested against the disastrous peace terms. An officer attached to the .mission consented to forward the demands to President Wilson. A Berlin wireless states that the Provincial Council of East Prussia appealed to President Wilson against the brutal plundering of the Allies, and requests Mr Wilson to consent to verbal negotiations with the German delegates at Versailles. Lord Curzon, in a speech at the Primrose League, said that in the event of Germany's refusal to sign, the Allies were prepared for every emergency. No substantial modification of the Treaty would be permitted. Our terms were such a contrast to Germany's proposed tennis if victorious, that they recalled dive's phrase. ''We stand aghast at our own moderation." The Berlin correspondent of the NewYork "Times" inquired from the War Ministr/ regarding persistent rumours saying that the military authorities planned resistance against the Allies if the Peace Treaty were rejected. Officials denied the correctness of the rumours, and also declared that there was no truth in the reports that German scientists were devising means of infecting a possible invading army with the germs of fatal disease. It is understood that safeguards •against religious discrimination in the new States of Europe have been agreed upon by the Council of Four. British and American marines have landed at Danzig. The latest date for signing the German, Austrian, and Hungarian treaties is June 5. A full solution of the Adriatic difficulty is not required in the Treaty. It will suffice if Austria renounces her claim to the liberated territories.. It is expected that Mr. Lloyd George will visit the L T nited States in October to attend the opening of the League of Xations Council. — (A. and N.Z. Cable.)