DANGER OF DRIFT

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 67, 16 September 1936, Page 11

DANGER OF DRIFT

STATE OF EUROPE

LOCARNO MEETING

NO DATE FIXED YET

(BritisU Official Wireless.)

(Received September 16, 11 am.) RUGBY, September 15.

The preliminary diplomatic preparations for the proposed meeting of the Locarno Powers, to which the Foreign Secretary, despite his recent enforced absence from his Department, has been giving constant attention since his return from his holiday, are now making progress.

The communique of July 23 favoured the opening of negotiations for a new agreement to take the place of the Rhine Pact of Locarno as the first business in a programme for consolidation of peace by means of a general settlement to be achieved by the free cooperation of all the Powers concerned. The communique declared that steps should be taken to arrange a FivePower meeting as soon as it could conveniently be held, and there was specu- B lation at the time whether it would assemble before the opening of the League Assembly. Subsequently iv the House of Commons Mr. Eden emphasised the view of his Majesty's Government ' that a great amount of preparatory work must be done thr6ugh diplomatic channels before a meeting could usefully take place, and the German and other Governments, in accepting invitations to the meeting, alsi> stressed the importance of careful diplomatic preparation. TENTATIVE SUGGESTION. It was with the idea of allowing time for diplomatic exchanges that the British Government .tentatively suggested the second week of October as the date for the conference, which they hoped would be generally suitable and which they had reason to think would be acceptable to the German Government. Since preliminary exchanges are to be made through diplomatic channels, the League meetings in the next few weeks do not involve any interruption of work, and the date therefore was thought to leave ample time for preparing the ground. There is a strong feeling in London that the prospective date is among the first essentials to be agreed upon by the participating Powers if the danger of drift, which would be most regrettable in the present state of Europe, is to be avoided. GOVERNMENTS'- REPLIES. Tlie proposal of his Majesty's Gov* ernment for a meeting to take place before the end of October has been, found agreeable by the French and Belgian Governments, and it is understood that these Governments would also favour London as a meeting pUce.

The German Government, in vibat i 3 regarded as an interim reply, has expressed the opinion that a meeting in ; October would provide insufficient time for continuation of the preparatory discussions.

The Italian Government, whose reply was delivered by the Italian Ambassador, Signor Grindi, to Sir Robert Vansittart, Permanent ifider-Secretary at the Foreign Office/this afternoon, la thanking the British Government for the invitation, added that before fixing the actual date for the meeting it thought diplomatic exchanges should continue. .

The date for the conference remains* therefore, a matter for further discussion.