AUSTRIA’S INDEPENDENCE

Evening Star, Issue 21835, 26 September 1934, Page 9

AUSTRIA’S INDEPENDENCE

CONVERSATIONS AT GEHEVA LOOKING FOR SUITABLE PLAN (British Official Wireless.) Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. RUGBY, September 25. (Received September 26, at 11 a.m.) A further exchange of views took place at Geneva between the French and Austrian foreign Ministers on the question of the best method of guaranteeing the independence of Austria. The attitude of the United Kingdom Government on this question was defined in an aide memoire handed to the Austrian Minister in London on February 9, when it was stated that the maintenance of the integrity and independence of Austria was an object of British policy, and later in the same month the United Kingdom, French, and Italian Governments made a joint pronouncement on the subject following inquiries made of them by the Austrian Government. Various proposals for establishing a system of guarantees for Austria have been examined, but they have not yet advanced beyond the stage of exploration. It has from the outset been clearly understood by tho other interested Powers that no guarantee could bo undertaken by Britain which carried with it or implied any military commitment on the Continent, and newspapers state that Captain Eden, while adhering to his earlier pronouncements regarding British interest in Austrian independence, reiterated the view that his Government was in opposition to new engagements.