PROGRESS REPORTED IN MOSCOW PARLEYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 156, 5 July 1939, Page 9

PROGRESS REPORTED IN MOSCOW PARLEYS.

PEACE FRONT PACT. Some Difficulties Still To Be Overcome. FURTHER DETAILS SOUGHT. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 11 a.m.) LONDON, July 4. The Press Association says that Sir William Seeds, British Ambassador at Moscow, reports good progress in connection with the peace front negotiations with Russia. Soviet circles in London state that final agreement is in sight. It is understood that the Baltic States are named as being included in a threePower pledge. The Quai d'Orsay (Paris) reveals that M. Molotoff seeks further elucidation of the British and French proposals, from which it is assumed that negotiations will continue for some little time in Moscow. The report of an agreement on the Soviet pact is officially discounted in London, though it is admitted that considerable progress has been made, justifying hope. Reports that the Russian pact was near completion invigorated markets, and gilt-edged stock gained a point. Cabinet Committee Meets. The Cabinet Foreign Affairs Committee met twice to-day when it would have before it the latest information on the Moscow negotiations, says a British official wireless message. While it is undoubted that progress has been made in these negotiations, new difficulties, which have been met with, will present the expectation of an easy or rapid conclusion to the negotiations. The "Daily Telegraph" says that the Cabinet Foreign Affairs Committee considered the practicability of proposing to Moscow an immediate three-Power assistance treaty, to operate only in the event of direct aggression upon one of the parties to it.

TURKEY'S PLANS. Dardanelles Transit In Time Of Conflict. FAVOURABLE TO ALLIES. PARIS, July 3. M. Bonnet, French Foreign Minister, conferred with the French Ambassador to Turkey and discussed Turkey's plans to transit warships through the Dardanelles in the event of a naval conflict. It is understood these are completely satisfactory to Britain and France. DUTCH NEUTRALITY. NO GUARANTEES DESIRED. (Received 11 a.m.) THE HAGUE, July 4. The Dutch Ministers in Paris and London presented a de marche rejecting possible guarantees to Holland by Britain and France. They again emphasised Dutch neutrality.