HARMONY DESIRED

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 1, 2 January 1934, Page 7

HARMONY DESIRED

SOVIET AND BRITAIN. Trade Agreement Overtures Progress. JAPANESE POLICY THREAT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 10 a.m.) RUGBY, January 1. The Anglo-Soviet negotiations in London during recent months for the conclusion of a new temporary trade agreement have made good progress. Although the points at issue still outstanding are serious they have been considerably narrowed and are now under discussion in Moscow between the British Ambassador and M. Litvinoff. A message from Moscow states that the Foreign Commissar, <M. Litvinoff, speaking in the Soviet Parliament,-said it was Russia's intention to maintain her international relations. Unfortunately the 'Soviet was not in complete harmony with Britain, but it was eager to reach an agreement.

M. Litvinoff characterised Japan's Far Eastern policy as the darkest and most threatening cloud on the horizon. He referred to the "provocative activities of the Japanese in Mancliukuo," which, he asserted, were forcing Russia to strengthen lief frontiers. The Soviet did not resent German Nazi-ism, but it did resent acts against the Soviet, including Herr Hitler's demand for territory in the East Rosenberg mountains and intrigues with the Ukrainian counter-revolutionaries. The programme for the second five years' plan, beginning on January 19, after a year's delay, aims at increasing production 1 v 1937 two and a half times compared with 1932, or nine-fold that of pre-war days. It is hoped to complete the Volga-Don canal in 1937 to enable the north to exchange timber for coal and grain from the Don.