KEEPING OF PEACE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1941, Page 8

KEEPING OF PEACE

TALKS IN WASHINGTON

STRONGER FORCES

BRITISH AREAS IN EAST

(By Telegraph-—Press Association—Copyright.*

NEW YORK, February 15.

In Washington today the Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull the British Ambassador, Lord Halifax, and the Australian Minister, Mr. Casey, had a conference which lasted 40 minutes.

The Netherlands East Indies Minister, Mr. Loudon, after conferring with Mr. Hull, told" newspapermen that the Indies would "resist any force," adding. "That is a funda-* mental policy."

Lord Halifax, on leaving the conference, said that the trio discussed Pacific matters and other subjects of mutual interest. He asserted that the British in many places in the Far East "have been increasing their forces, and- quite substantially."

When asked whether the position in the Far East had deteriorated in

the past few days, Lord Halifax answered: "I would not say that," adding: "It is a part of the world in which we are all interested." Asked whether it was fair to assume that Britain was interested in keeping things in the Pacific from "going to pieces," he answered, "We have been working at x that all along."

Members of the Naval Committee said that the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Stark, did not seem "as worried" over Japanese moves in the Far East "as one might believe."