DEADLOCK

Evening Star, Issue 25769, 16 April 1946, Page 5

DEADLOCK

DRAFTING THE PEACE TREATIES NOW TASK FOR FOREIGN MINISTERS' CONFERENCE (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) LONDON, April 15. The conference of Foreign Ministers in Paris on April 25 is regarded here as dominatng the world diplomatic scene. Efforts were made this week to agree on the agenda and procedure to be adopted. The primary task is to agree on the peace terms to be presented to Italy, Finland, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria, but after working on the drafts for three months the Foreign Ministers' deputies failed to reach agreement on any. It is stated that the gap between the views of Britain and the United States on the one hand and the Soviet on the other is considerable, but it is hoped that the Foreign Ministers of the " Big Four " will be able to end the deadlock. An agreement on the peace terms for the five countries mentioned is overdue. The uncertainty of the political future of these countries is reported to be holding up reconstruction in large areas of Europe, which in turn aggravates the suspicions between the " Big Four." The. necessity of an agreement being reached is emphasised here, for a renewed deadlock could mean that the prospect of an agreed general peace settlement might vanish.