RETURN OF U.S. ENVOY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22983, 1 April 1940, Page 1 (Supplement)

RETURN OF U.S. ENVOY

MR WELLES CONFERS WITH PRESIDENT “NO PROPOSALS RECEIVED OR MADE ” (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Received March 30, 2.10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 29. Mr Roosevelt, Mr Cordell Hull, and Mr Sumner Welles conferred today, after which Mr Roosevelt handed the press a prepared statement which read: “Mr Welles was sent to Europe to obtain information on existing conditions. He was neither authorised to make, nor did he make, commitments involving the United States, nor was he empowered to offer, and he has not offered, any proposals in the name of this Government. “He has not received nor brought me any peace proposals from any source. The information he received will be most valuable to the United States in its general conduct of foreign relations. It will be entirely confidential. This Government mission resulted, through personal contacts and conversations, in the clarification of relations between the United States and the countries visited. It will assist in certain instances in the development of a better understanding and friendlier relations. “Although there may be scant immediate prospect for the establishment of any just, stable, and lasting peace in Europe, the information available to this Government as a result of Mr Welles’s mission will, undoubtedly, be most valuable when the time comes for the establishment of such a peace.” Mr Roosevelt laid the statement on a desk and declared that “immediate” meant just what he said. It implied no prognostication of future prospects of European peace. “No one can foretell what will happen as a result of fast-moving events in Europe,” he added. “CZECHS ROBBED • BY NAZIS ” WHOLESALE PLUNDER ALLEGED LONDON, March 29. Details of the German attempts at the destruction of the Czechoslovak nation were given by Dr. Benes, the former Czech President, who, in a speech in London, said that the greed of Nazism knew no bounds. In the months after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Nazis took away all the war materials, enormous reseryfe supplies of grain, industrial and agricultural produce, and, in general, everything on which they could lay hands. The value of the property thus plundered in the first three months of the occupation was estimated at £30,000,000. The Jews in Czechoslovakia were plundered, but the so-called Aryanisation was released in such a way that no single piece of confiscated or transferred Jewish property could be given to Czech citizens. Thus almost the whole of the Czechoslovakian banks had been confiscated, the monetary system endangered and the industrial and banking system put under the control of German directors. Dr. Benes described as absolutely incredible cases of private robbery and theft carried out by the Gestapo. Czechs’ houses were searched and everything valuable, including even foodstuffs, was confiscated. Every other Gestapo agent in the Czech lands robbed for his own personal benefit and allowed himself to be bribed, said Dr. Benes. Czech working classes had been dragged down even below the level of the German workers. The social and economic situation of the Czech lands, he said, was misery, impoverishment and complete ruin. A message from Prague says that all Czech ministries, law courts, and public offices’ have’ been ordered to hang a picture of Herr Hitler in every room. This is, officially described as “symbolic of the close relations between the Protectorate and Germany.”

Tasman Air Service—The Minister for Air (Mr J. V. Fairbairn) said last night that there was likely to be some delay in starting the Tasman air-mail service, as after the agreement was signed it would have to be ratified by the Parliaments of Australia and New Zealand. He suggested that the New Zealand Parliament, which would not ordinarily meet until May, might see fit to hold a special session.—Sydney, March 30.