SPLENDID ISOLATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 135, 10 June 1925, Page 7

SPLENDID ISOLATION.

BRITAIN'S GREAT TRADITION.

NO FRONTIER ON RHINE. FRANCE AND THE FACT. (By Cable. —Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 9. It is authoritatively announced that London statements, based on inspired information from French sources, that Britain has entirely reversed her traditional policy of isolation, and pledged the whole of her armed forces to war if the Rhine frontier is violated, are an exaggeration.

Negotiations have only just commenced with the sending of a Note to Germany. The sugested pact defines, but does not increase, Britain's responsibilities.

It is untrue that any violation by Germany of the territorial or military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles will he casus belli for Britain, which reserves the right to make her own decision in such an eventuality. The fact that France haß the right to cross the demilitarised zone of the Rhine without seeking the sanction of the League of Nations if Poland and Czecho-Slovakia are attacked caused the greatest difficulty in the discussions between Britain and France.

French opinion is losing sight of the fact that the pact will be a mutual one with Germany. Tn the event of a Franco-German clash it will be the obligation of the British Government to assist Germany if France is judged the aggressor. Moreover, the British viewpoint is that the stipulations of the covenant of the League of Nations must take precedence of all else.

Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, interviewed by the "Daily Herald," says that the whole Labour party will oppose the agreement as the beginning, not of a general understanding to maintain peace, but of individual pacts and alliances. Tt creates an organisation for war. It is an attempt to supersede the League of Nations as a treaty-making medium.

A message from Geneva states that although the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, confirms the statement that a complete agreement has been reached by Britain and France regarding the security pact question, he refused to discuss the details. He said the agreement would be embodied in a Note which France would send to Germany in reply to the latter country's pact proposals. This Note, which would go as the French reply, was couched in the most friendly and courteous terms, said Mr. Chamberlain. It ought to lead to successful negotiations. Nothing in the agreement was likely to cause Poland disquiet. GERMANY AND LEAGUE. The Geneva correspondent of the French news agency, Havas, claims to have been authorised to announce that Mr. Chamberlain and M. Briand, French Foreign Minister, reached a definite agreement in connection with the security pact under which Britain undertakes to guarantee the Rhine frontier, as fixed by the Treaty of Versailles, with her entire naval, military and air forces in the event of German violation of the territorial and military clauses relating to that frontier.

The correspondent says the guarantee does not extend to the frontiers of Czecho-Slovakia or Poland, which are to remain under the protection of the League of Nations. In the event of manifest aggression against France's eastern alließ, however, the agreement authorises France to use the demilitarised Rhine zone as a field of operations for the purpose of aiding her attacked ally.

It is also agreed, says the correspondent, that Germany cannot be admitted to the League of Nations until she has signed a security pact which entirely conforms to the conditions enumerated. THE FINAL PLAN. It is considered that the Note is not likely to be of such a nature that, in the equally unlikely event of Germany's immediate and unqualified acceptance of it. Britain, France and Belgium would all be fully committed to its terms. On the contrary the Note, it is considered, will be likely to result in prolonged negotiations. Obvious!}', moreover, the final plan must be approved by the Parliaments of the nations concerned, as well as by those of the Dominions. BLOOD PACT. The diplomatic correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" emphasises that Britain so far has given no absolutely binding pledges, but has been content to make a tentative offer of a pact accompanied by practical suggestions, subject to the endorsement of the Empire as a whole.

So far as the terms of the agreement between Mr. Chamberlain and M. Briand are concerned the two Ministers jointly received the Press after their consultation, but although they laid stress on the favourable issue of their conversation they resolutely refused to discusß the proposals agreed upon. They said it was not customary to disclose the contents of a Note until that Note had reached its destination. The "Daily Express" says: "The Rhine is to become a British frontier under the proposals. This is a sensational and historic change in British policy." The diplomatic correspondent of the Labour paper, the "Daily Herald," calls the agreement a "blood pact." Other papers refrain from commenting. (A. and N.Z.—Reuter.)