LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 224, 22 September 1938, Page 20

LONDON LETTER.

* » EXPERTS AT NO. 10. PENSIONS FOR EX-PREMIERS. HAZI PENETRATION Or BALKANS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, September 2. Crisi* time, in experts' time—a time when politicians |>lny second fiddle to professional diplomat!), civil ecrvant* snd others, for whom the conduct of affair* is a bread-and-butter job. So it ha* been during the Ministerial dioens■lorM on the Czech crisi*. Not since the eominjj and Roing of lawyer* at the time of the Abdication have no many nonpoliticians been summoned to Downing Street. The leading expert called into consultation with the Cabinet has, of course, been Sir Nevile Henderson, British Ambaesador in Berlin. Next in importance was Sir Robert Vansittart, the Government's chief dimplomatic adviser.) Another expert ndvwer was Sir Orme Sargent, the Aexistant I'nder-Secretary j at the Foreign Ofliee. He was one of. the British delegation which helped toi frame the Versailles Treaty, which brought the State of Czechoslovakia into being and so created the Sudeten German problem. Two more member* of the expert team guiding Britioh policy on this problem were Sir Lancelot Oliphant. who la Sir Orma Sargent'a deputy a-t the Foreign Office, and Sir Horace Wiledn. Toohnically, Sir Horace la Chief Indus trial Adviser to the Government, and many people bare wondered what he hao to do with the Czech question. Actually ho la Mr. Chamberlain's confidential adrmer on other problems besides industrial ones. He hao even been sredited with framing the whole foreign Clicy of the present Gorerament. But keeps modestly in the background. Baldwin and Lloyd George Draw Pensions. j Many people were surprised to learn from figures recently published that Earl Baldwin and Mr. Lloyd George had availed themselves of the pensions for ex-Prime Ministers provided for by the Ministers of the Crown Act passed last year. Under this Act, ex-Premiere were entitled to pension* of £2000 a year, provided they held no other Ministerial office. Both these recipients of a State pension are wealthy men, but it is generally understood that they accepted the money In order to create a precedent for others who might be less fortunately situated. So far they have each drawn £1000. Mr. Bamsay Mac Donald, who died last November, received £717 7/10. Baalism in Spain. The lesson that no side is likely to "win" a modern war, when the strengths of' the opposing forces are fairly evenly balanced, is being learnt, though slowly, in Spain. There is evidence that leaders on both aides are beginning to realise that the conflict, inevitably, will and in ruin for the country, whoever elaima too victory. They are looking ahead to that time when they will have to eo-oporato with exanoniles in the task of reconstruction. In the words of Senor Indaledo Prieto, former Minister of National Defence, •We shall all hare to work togetherMonarchists and Republicans, men of the Left and men of the Bight. Spain will demand it." Senor Prieto, who apoke these words at a recent conference at Barcelona, declared that a foreign loan would bo needed; Spain, however, would look not to Europe but to South America for help. He estimated that the war in Spain had already oust mora than 1200,000,000. Germany fat the Balkan*. Colonel Tweed, Mr. Lloyd George* politic*] adviser, has returned from a TOOO-mile tour of the Balkans strongly impressed by the effectiveness of the Gernfcn economic and propagandist penetration of these countries. Apparently the Balkan peoples are not so audi pro-Gorman In sympathies as dependent on Germany aa a market. Many newspaper* arc subsidised by Germany, which means that Belgrade and Bucharest are well acquainted with the Nasi point of •view, but not no wsll informed about the British. Troubles In Palestine and Jamaica am giren (all promlaenee, but little that is fnvourabls to Britain is published. International complications nave a way of starting m the Balkans, and it la thought that Britain should make •onto attempt to counteract this onesided propaganda. In this connection perhaps Mr. Georgn Uwbury's peace campaign tour of the Bantam win have good effect. As regards the economic dependence of these countries on Germany, the Bulgarian Prima Minister indicated the solution to Mr, Lansbory when be emphasised his country's need to expand her markets. Hitter Like* the Bute*. Another.instance of how Germany seeks to. gam the' support and friendship of other countries is provided by her treatment of the neutral Netherlands. Dutchmen are being encouraged to obtain employment in Germany, and eases have been reported of higher rates of pay and better working conditions being offered by Nasi employers to Dutchmen than to their own people. Mora than one emigrant from Holland, on getting a job in the Reich, has been surprised and not a little flattered to receive personal inquiries after hie comfort, with friendly advice and help from an official, obviously acting under orders. This favourable treatment has produced serious industrial problems for some of the Dutch towns near the border. In recent months more than 200 families a week hare crossed into Germany. Faked Passports. The unfortunate people with whom Germany has no desire to establish friendly relations — her non- Aryan nationals—are causing trouble in the] countries to which they endeavour to escape, particularly England. The traffic in faked passports continues, in spite of the efforts of Scotland Yard, the French Cliea and the immigration authorities suppress H. Those forged passports, believed to be the work of a gang operating In Paris, are being sold to refugees at prices varying from £10 to £60. Some passports ars entirely the work of counterfettere* ethers are genuine, though stolen, and accredit the holders with the nationality of countries other than those from which they come. A German .Tew, for instance, who was refused entrance at Folkestone recently, had a Czechoslovakia* pssspsct.