LONDON CONFERENCE

Evening Star, Issue 18715, 18 August 1924, Page 6

LONDON CONFERENCE

A HAPPY ISSUE.

EKANCO-GEKMAN AGREEMENT.

SUBJECT TO RATIFIOATIOK

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

LONDON, August 16. Tho negotiations between the French and Belgians and the Germans to-day resulted in an agreement that the town and district of Dortmund should bo evacuated on the day after the singatuxo of the protocol, at the end of August. The agreement also applies to the districts occupied during the Ruhr occupation, but the Ruhr itself will be evacuated in a year. Tho final meeting of the conference Is being held this evening, and the Germans will probably return to Berlin to-morrow. The Reichstag null meet on August 2L It is understood that the agreement between tho French and tho Germans was reached during the night. The Germans took a note of the French demands without recognising the legality of the Ruhr occupation. A later statement is to the effect that the agreement which was reached by tho conference has been initialled.

Reports from Berlin confirm Germany’s acceptance of the offer of the evacuation of tho Ruhr in a year, but the scoop trance is qualified by certain reservations. The ‘Daily Telegraph’ says: “Tho London Conference has been saved. Germany protests, but accepts.”—Renter and A. and N.Z. Cables. RUHR EVACUATION. WITHIN TWELVE MONTHS, LONDON, August 17. _ The Allied Conference agreements will be formally signed on August 30, after ratification by the Franoo-German Parliaments. The correspondence between tho French and Belgian and German delegates dated August 16 shows that M, Herriot and M. Theunis and M. Hymans the evacuation of the Ruhr within a maximum of twelve months if tho London agreements are carried out in a spirit of good faith and pacification. They also agree the day after the final signature to evacuate the Dortmund-Hoerde zone and the tenttorios outside Ruhr which have been occupied since January 11, 1923, in order to give immediate and spontaneous proof of their desire for peace and their confidence in undertakings which were freely entered into.

It is understood that the Allies _ have agreed to begin immediate negotiations with Germany for commercial treaties.—; Reuter. 1

THE GERMAN DEMANDS. j

LONDON, August 16. Many interviews followed tho receipt of a 7,000-word reply from Berlin, after which tho Germans, it is believed, paid informal calls on Mr MacDonald and Mr Kellogg, explaining that the Berlin Go* vernraent was agreeable to the Ruhr being evacuated in twelve months on condition that all the Allies or any one of them guaranteed tho granting of the £40,000,000 loan. It is understood that Mr MacDonald replied that that was purely a matter for tho Allied banking interests. _ Tho Gormans replied that in those circumstances it would bo necessary for some of the delegates to return to Berlin. Mr MacDonald merely remarked: “ Well, give my compliments to Herr Ebert.’* Later the Germans conferred with M. Herriot and M. Theunis. Tho meeting broke up at 10 o’clock, after which M. Herriot issued a communique stating that the conference had adjourned until Saturday. He added: “The conversation gave hope of a favorable result.” Tire Germans issued a similar statement, except that they used tho phrase “ positive result.”

It was stated at a late hour that the Germans had withdrawn their demand for a more definite guarantee that the loan would bo forthcoming, and it Is known that considerable progress was made oil' tho other points. It is understood that the Germans asked —first, for the withdrawal from the Ruhr and the ports of Dusseldorf, Duisburg, and Ruhrort; secondly, for a pledge by tho French to endeavor to complete the general evacuation, of the Ruhr by April 15; thirdly, tho occupation of the remaining area should become as invisible ns possible, tho French meanwhile to stress ilio importance of tho free exports of common goods and steel products from Alsace-Lorraine into Germany.—A. and N.Z. Cable.

Will the professor succeed whore the lawyers failed ? asks the London correspondent of the * Manchester Guardian.' M. Herriot since the war has produced two books, ' Greer ” and ‘ A'gir,’ and his friends point out the good augury of their titles, and say that he is_ the man to create and to act, not to dispute and to put the method before the deed. His position , it, is pointed out, is a very much, more difficult one than Mr MacDonald s. The English Premier is following the same line as Mr Baldwin, Mr Bonar Law, and Mr Lloyd George before him, and everyone knows that ho has the nation, solidly behind him in his German policy. M. Herriot, no doubt, has the best of the French nation behind him, but his policy has to be vArkcd out and has to convince powerful opposition. It nearly all respects he is different from M. Poincare, particularly in his experience. He was a student' in Germany, speaks German well, and mads a special study of local administration in Germany, a subject on which he has written. It is recalled, too, that before the war ho was vice-president of the Association, of Reconciliation with Germany.