WHEN WORLD RULERS MET

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

WHEN WORLD RULERS MET

During i 938 it is quite on the cards that there will be a "showdown" between the dissatisfied and the satisfied nations, and it may be that the "have nota" will, "on terms/* stop threatening the "haves." • On the outcome of' this struggle depends whether unhappy Europe is to be blessed with peace or bathed in blood as in 1914 to 1918. British Government men prefer that Europe attempts to settle its problems by "infprmal discussions rather than by public declamations." In the* art of public declaiming there is no one in the British Cabinet who can match the oratory of Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler r but at informal discussions the British are confident they can hold their own and bring the demagogues down to the plant! of prosaic commonsense and arrive at some mutual satisfactory bargain. In answer to defeatists who say that Germany is a confirmed enemy of Britain, and that nothing can be done about it, the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, sent his Cabinet colleague, Viscount Halifax, off to the Reich to talk with Chancellor Hitler and other leading Nazis. It may be assumed that tlie scope of these talks took in Germany's repeated demands for return of her lost colonies, Britain's willingness to make partial colonial restitution, and whether this could be done as part of an all-round European settlement which would involve, among other things,

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cessation of the mad arms race and a return by Germany to the League of Nations.

Germany, France and Italy may coon be signing a Western pact to replace the Locarno pact, torn up ; by Hitler. Germany -would be willing to guarantee peace in Western Europe provided she had a free hand in Eastern Europe. Germany really wants Britain's promise not to intervene in Austria, also if Germany demands complete autonomy for the German minority in Czechoslovakia —a demand which might lead to war with Czechoslovakia and possibly with her allies, Russia and France. Important matters have been discussed in Rome between the British Ambassador, the Earl of Perth, and Count Galeazzo Ciano, Signor Mussolini's son-in-law and Italian Foreign Minister. Their agenda included II Duce's endorsement of Herr Hitler's claim to colonies and Britain's insistence that Italy and Germany withdraw from Spain, Spanish Morocco, and the Balearics, and that Italy cease menacing Egypt and the Suez Canal with her heavy Libyan reinforcements. But at the head of the secret list was Italy's wish for recognition of its Ethiopian conquest, and for a substantial loan from the City of London.

Britain now holds the trump card, since she has plenty of money to lend and would be willing to finance Italy and Germany provided they used the money for peaceful development and not for guns.

Belgium gets along without borrowing, is worried about the danger of another major European war and about Germany's campaign for colonies; hence King Leopold's recent visit to London. Under this energetic young king, Belgium has established a policy of complete neutrality as between it<* allies and foes of the World War. Unwilling to offend the mighty Reicli, Belgium can-

celled its General Staff chats with France and Britain. King Leopold offers to act as mediator among Germany, Britain, France and Italy to help in arranging a Western pact which would keep these nations at peace and off Belgian soil. In London King Leopold sought to make sure that Britain and France would not attempt to satisfy Germany's colonial hunger at the expense of Belgium, which, like Portugal, is a little country with large colonial possessions. Belgium is especially worried about Buanda-L rundi. her native territory adjoining the Belgian Congo. This territory was formerly part of Tanganyika, which Britain took from Germany. Futile efforts are being made in Whitehall to make it appear that nothing much is happening. Viscount Halifax's visit to Hitler was merely a follow-up, so the British public was told, to an invitation to attend Colonel-General Goering's hunting expedition in Berlin. This invitation was extended to him not as a Cabinet Minister but because he is a Yorkshire master of foxhounds. Officially King Leopold crossed the Channel to visit his cousin. King George VI. The Duke of Gloucester was Leopold's "fag" when they attended Eton together. King Boris of Bulgaria and King George 11. of Greece both came to London recently to discuss European problems with the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, and Mr. Chamberlain. Whitehall's quibblings about the true purpose of Viscount Halifax's mission to Germany reflect a policy of never telling the'truth—not the whole truth, anyway, if you can help it—that is too prevalent in certain official circles. Of course, the British are not the only offenders in this respect. President Roosevelt would not po on a fox hunt to bargain with Hitler, as Viscount Halifax ostensibly went; but he did send Norman Davis to London ostensibly for the International Sugrar Conference, but actually to talk over much more important matters with Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. fiden. Mr. Davis' saving «race was to admit on arrival that he knew noth>ng about sugar!