VICHY CONCESSIONS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 196, 16 May 1941, Page 9

VICHY CONCESSIONS

Extent Of Co-operation Still Secret FATEFUL MOVES SUSPECTED (British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) (Received May 15, 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 14. Commenting on today’s official announcement in Vichy that the Cabinet unanimously approved Herr Hitler’s requirements, in return for the recent concessions to Vichy, and that the effects of the negotiations would “make themselves felt shortly,” the Vichy correspondent of the Associated Press of America says the decision will prove to be a fateful act.

“Details of Hitler’s terms are still unrevealed, but some people are of the opinion that they amount to co-operation with the Axis in a plan designed to keep the United States out of the war,” he states. When questioned in the House of Commons regarding French policy, the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden, referred to the agreement of May 5, in which economic concessions by Germany were announced and commented, “Whatever concessions Admiral Darlan may have agreed to. I find it hard to believe that the French people, helpless though they may be to prevent systematic German spoliation of their resources, will be so false to their noble traditions as to work actively of their own free will for the German cause and thus prolong the period of their own sufferings and postpone the day of their own liberation.”

The “Daily Telegraph” says there is reason to believe that the meeting of the French Cabinet at which Admiral Darlan’s negotiations with Hitler were approved was concerned with the situation in Syria.

The “Telegraph” says that Hitler is reported to have sent for Admiral Darla:. in order to demand an assurance that if Germans were landed in Syria by’ air the French garrison would be withdrawn or refrain from intervening. When Hitler sends for a foreign statesman to hand him an ultimatum, he usually acts as though the terms have already been fulfilled, and consequently one may expect to hear at any moment that German planes carrying troops and material have actually landed at Aleppo. The possibility of landings from the sea must also be considered. Ollieial Smokescreen. The official report after the meeting of the Cabinet in Vichy was merely a smokescreen, maintaining the pretence that Admiral Darlan’s visit was inten’ded to conclude the economic negotiations, which actually already had been concluded, says the “Telegraph.” Britain, it adds, is bound by her declaration of July, 1940, in what was stated that she could “not allow Syria to be occupied by a hostile Power, or be used as a base for attacks on other countries in the Middle East.” It is believed that the Implications of this declaration are no> under discussion between Vichy, London and Washington.

Mr. Eden, in his statement in the House of Commons, said, “The policy which has been adopted and declared by France is collaboration with Germany within certain limits, which have hot, so far as I am aware, been clearly defined. Details of Recent Pact. "The agreement with Germany of May 5 provides, according to the official announcement issued at Vichy, for allbviation of the restrictive measures regarding the line of demarcation between occupied an’d unoccupied France, and for reduction ’of the costs of the occupation fro.m 400,000,000 to 300,000,000 francs daily. The line of demarcation would, according to the communique, be open generally for the passage of goods between the two zones, and also for persons in case o’f the serious Illness of near relatives.

“The dispatch of plain postcards

from one zone to the other was also to be authorized, and soldiers and airmen were to be allowed to pass from one zone to the other under conditions which hitherto applied to sailors only. “No official announcement has been made regarding what may have been conceded by France in return for these so-called concessions, but the agreement is described in Vichy as a new step along the path of collaboration.”

Berlin Statement Awaited. LONDON, May 15.

A statement is expected to be issued in Berlin today on the recent meeting between Herr Hitler and Admiral Darlan. It is predicted that the agreement may restore control of Paris to the French Government and release more than 200,000 French prisoners of war. The French concessions demanded by Hitler are believed to have been disproportionately great. REPORT IN VICHY ?wo German Planes Land In Iraq (Received May 15, 11.20 p.m.) LONDON, May 15. The official news agency in Vichy announced that two German planes landed on an aerodrome in the region of Mosul. It is not known whether they were civil or military machines, for which reason it is unwise to deduce that this is the start of military aid to Iraq. FRENCH TO KILL CATTLE (Received May 15, 7 p.m.) VIOHY, May 14. The Minister of Agriculture, M, Caziot, announced that 1,290,000 head of cattle are to be slaughtered because fodder is 4,410,000 tons below the amount required. This was a result of last season’s poor harvest, the ravages of the war, and the blockade.