Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1940 MYSTERIOUS MISSION.

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1940, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1940 MYSTERIOUS MISSION.

IT is not easy to understand the exact purpose of Mr. Roosevelt, in sending, at this juncture, his Under-Secretary of State, Mr. Suinner Welles, on a mission of investigation into conditions in Britain, France, Germany and Italy. The American Ambassadors at London, Paris, and Rome should be in a position to give all such information. There is no U.S.A. Ambassador at Berlin, nowadays. The Ambassador at Paris was recently recalled to Washington to report to the President on the situation in Europe. Mr. Kennedy, Ambassador in London, also recently visited his own country, for a similar purpose. Why, then, despatch Mr. Welles ? It is announced that he has no authority to make proposals or commitments on behalf of the United States. Something more than appears on the surface must be behind his mission.

It is unusual to make such journeys unless the hosts have been previously sounded. Britain and France could have no objections to Mr. Welles’ investigations, and have intimated that any help he may need from official quarters will be at his disposal. The Press, too, welcomes the visit, but there are suspicions in some quarters that the American investigator may be connected - with peace negotiations. None would welcome the restoration of peace more than ■would the Anglo-French peoples, but it must be a peace framed on lines that will minimise the chance of future war. Public opinion throughout the Empire will agree with Mr. H. Morrison, Labour leader, when he declared there must be no patched-up peace

and no compromise with the chiefs. Recent . German brutalities on land and sea have but strengthened the resolve of the Allies to end the power of those responsible for such tactics. Mr. Roosevelt’s efforts at peace restoration are sincere and appreciated, but if Mr. Welles is a negotiator as well as an investigator, he had better be told early of the Allies’ determination to end Nazi oppression. At the same .time as the President’s announcement of Mr. Welles’ journey, the Secretary of State (Mr. Cordell Hull) announced that “informal diplomatic conversations had begun with several, neutral countries, with a vie.w to the eventual restoration of world peace on a sound lasting basis.” He quickly emphasised that Mr. Welles’ special mission had no connection with diplomatic conversations. The whole business ds somewhat mysterious, and developments will be awaited with interest. There is nothing in Mr.' Roosevelt’s record of dealings with European Powers to suggest that he will endeavour to force a peace on terms unsatisfactory to the Allies. He, however, realises that the war, despite the Allies’ present huge expenditure in U.S.A., will bring no net benefit to his country’s industrial welfare. It may be that pressure is being brought to bear on him by some influential Americans, to try to end the war, before U.S.A, feels the worse consequences.