APPEAL FOR PEACE

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 August 1939, Page 7

APPEAL FOR PEACE

SMALL POWERS’ INITIATIVE BELGIUM PROPOSES TALKS [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.! (Received August 22, 9.45 a.m.) BRUSSELS, August 21. A special Cabinet meeting decided to propose that the signatories to the Oslo Convention —Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Luxemburg, Denmark, and Finland —shoiild jointly appeal for peace. King Leopold is inviting the seven Foreign Ministers to visit Brussels for a conference on August 23. An appeal will be addressed to the Great Powers, urging them to do their utmost to avoid war, which would lead to untold sufferings for their own peoples, also those of smaller nations not concerned with then quarrels. Norway, Sweden and Denmark have already agreed to attend the conference.

The Belgian Foreign Minister, M. Pierlot, will preside at the Brussels conference, the aim of which will be to co-ordinate the attitude of neutrals towards problems, for instance, the transportation of food supplies, the care of wounded, and the sheltering of refugees. The peace appeal is being drafted. King Leopold will not mediate, as he is a supporter, and not the inspirer, of the conference. DISCOURAGING COMMENTS (Recd. August 22, 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 21. While the echoes of rolling gunwheels and marching men permeate , Central Europe, reactions to King Leopold’s Oslo Powers Conference are not yet fully audible. Comments range from the Wilhelmstrasse spokesman’s remark; that the conference would be successful “if' the participants talk sense to Poland, and persuade her allies to return to the principles of the Lansing Note,” to the French inclination to cold-shoulder any efforts directed to “changing the name of Munich to Brussels.” The Wilhelmstrasse spokesman adds that Germany is not making concessions.