CALM IN SUSPENSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 47, 24 August 1939, Page 12

CALM IN SUSPENSE

There is no important change from yesterday in the international situation to announce at the time of writing, nor need any be expected. Britain and France have made their position clear in regard to Poland, and a statement to this effect was conveyed in a message to Heir Hitler at Berchtesgaden delivered by the British Ambassador (Sir Nevile Henderson). It is understood that the Fuhrer left the Ambassador in no doubt that the obligations Britain had undertaken towards Poland could not cause Germany to renounce the pursuance of her vital national interests. Precautionary steps are being taken in Britain for any emergency. No time is being lost, it is reported, in putting the constitutional, administrative, and defence machinery into a state of readiness to meet any contingency and to honour the country's international obligation. The King has returned from Balmoral and will hold a meeting o£ the Privy Council. Parliament assembles today to pass the Emergency Powers Defence Bill on the lines of the Defence of the Realm Act of the Great War. In Britain the ranks have closed up, and the Acting Labour Leader (Mr. Arthur Greenwood), in a statement, calls on all citizens to remain calm, j adding, in words that will appeal to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth: We must steadfastly withstand further acts of aggression as the onlyway to maintain peace in Europe. It is not too late for sane counsels to prevail. The issue of peace or war rests with Herr Hitler. If the blow falls, our consciences are clear, and I am sure our people will face the future with confidence and determination. It seems from the signs that war in this case would be unpopular even in the Axis States. In Italy, it is reported from Rome, "a fervent desire to avoid war" is expressed in the newspapers, which "continue to urge Poland not to commit suicide." The Poles remain calm and unmoved in the face of all such efforts to shake their resolution. They show no sign of surrender. In Brussels, King Leopold of Belgium, addressing a conference of the Oslo Powers met to urge peace, spoke with gravity, declaring that while it is still possible to negotiate and avoid the worst, time passes and the evolution of events will soon render all contact more difficult. Herr yon Ribbentrop, Berlin's emissary, is in Moscow, to sign the Russo-German non-aggression pact, the details oi which" still remain secret, but which may contain a saving clause, as suggested. It is noted that in the totalitarian countries the people are being kept in ignorance of what is passing between the Powers and the true position of affairs. In the Far East the Japanese Press is endeavouring to explain that the HitlerStalin pact is not inconsistent nor irreconcilable with a maintenance of the anti-Comintern agreement between Japan and the Axis Powers. The most important news, indicating that the prospect of an appeal to arms is not immediate, is the announcement that Herr Hitler will address the world at Tannenberg on Sunday, August 27, at 11 a.m. (European time). "It may be taken as unlikely that there will be a recourse to war before then. As the issue lies with Hitler, the speech will be historic as determining the fate of the world. In the meantime, citizens will be serving their country best if they turn a deaf ear to all rumour? which disturb the normal work of the community and the equanimity of the people in the face of danger.