BALKAN PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 83, 8 April 1940, Page 7

BALKAN PEACE.

AIMS OF POWERS. Dictator Nations Wish To Keep Status Quo. BRITISH ENVOYS RETURN. United Press Association.—Copyright. LONDON, April 7. Binding promises have been exchanged between Russia, Germany and Italy guaranteeing that no Balkan problems shall arise during the war, says the Berlin correspondent of the Copenhagen newspaper "Berlingske Tidende." The three Powers have undertaken not to seek a change in the status quo of South-East Europe. It is expected that the British Ambassador at Ankara and the British Ministers at Athens, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia and Budapest will all have arrived in London by to-morrow, when consultations with experts at the Foreign Ottice, the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the Board of Trade will begin, says a British official wireless message. The Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain, explained the object of these consultations in the House of Commons last Tuesday. He said: "We have heard recently of possible developments in South-Eastern Europe. It has even been suggested by German propaganda that it is our aim to disturb the peace of the Balkans. This, of course, is not true, and we are confident that our agreements with Turkey have, on the contrary, contributed most effectively to maintaining peace and security in South-Eastern Europe." Mr. Chamberlain expressed his conviction that this initiative would have fruitful results both for the Allied cause and for the maintenance of peace and security in that area.