FRENCH REQUESTED TO LEAVE GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 198, 23 August 1939, Page 12

FRENCH REQUESTED TO LEAVE GERMANY.

ALL RESIDENTS.

"Paris Cabinet To Recall Units To Colours. ARMY OF 1,500,000 MEN. United -Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 22. Renter's Berlin correspondent says the French Ambassador requested French residents to leave Germany.

The French Cabinet has not decided to summon Parliament. There will be no mobilisation, but units may be recalled to the Colours, thus bringing the Army to a strength of 1,500,000 men on a war footing.

Cabinet Ministers will reassemble on Thursday. Cabinet decided to reaffirm, in common with Britain, its military pledges to Poland and to discover Russia's intentions regarding the pact.

It was also decided to take all appro priate xrilitary measures.

A Warsaw message says the pact does not modify the attitude of the Government one iota and does not change its strategic plans in the event of war, the presence of a Russian or German Army in Poland being regarded as equally menacing.

Poland merely relies on raw materials from Russia, which the pact, it is believed, does not affect.

It is semi-officially stated in Berlin that the pact represents a permanent European realignment and not a mere tactical manoeuvre. It is an event of immense historical importance, decisively affecting long-term Germano-Russian relations.

A firm, dignified restatement of Britain's policy is expected to counteract widespread speculation and guesswork, and to re-establish confidence in countries aligned in the peace bloc.

The Emergency Powers Bill to be placed before Parliament partakes somewhat of the nature of the Defence of the Realm Act. It empowers the Government to meet any emergency, acting, if necessary, without consulting Parliament. Similarly the French Government has almost dictatorial powers.

The Communist party has issued a statement that the pact represents a victory for peace, and Socialism against Fascistic war plans, and the pro-Fascist policy of Mr. Chamberlain, because it is the keynote of the peace front.

The National Council of Labour will meet to-morrow and the Parliamentary Labour party on Thursday.

MANY RUMOURS.

PEOPLE BEWILDERED

Varied And Contradictory

Interpretations:

RUSSO-BRITISH RELATIONS

British Official Wireless. (Received 2.30 p.m.) RUGBY, August 22. To judge by news reports reaching London from European centres the announcement of the proposed German-Russian pact at first gave rise to bewilderment everywhere— and not least in Germany, where, in view of the marked difference in

emphasis in agency statements from Berlin and Moscow, and the absence of an authoritative expression of the views of Russia herself, a host of varied and often contradictory interpretations of this development are in currency.

While the critical situation in Europe compels most serious consideration of an event of this character, commentators everywhere obviously find difficulty in entirely suppressing reflections inspired by the spectacle of the author of the anti-Comintern Pact hastening to the Soviet capital.

In most countries the tendency— fostered by the nasty, triumphant terms in which the forthcoming negotiations have been heralded in the German and Italian Press —to see the proposed pact as a reversal of Russian policy, has given way, oil consideration, to a realisation that that is far from being its only or its most likely significance. This way of regarding the matter derived strength from later agency reports from Moscow.

A message received in London for example attributes to authoritative Soviet quarters the view that the SovietGerman non-aggression pact would be a serious step to ensure peace in Europe. Some circles are said to insist that such a pact would in no way be incompatible with a defensive alliance between the Soviet, Britain and France.

This indication of the official Soviet view is regarded among journalists in Moscow as of the utmost importance as revealing the undiminished desire of Russia to pursue its negotiations with Britain to a successful conclusion.