TALKS AT SEA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20635, 15 August 1941, Page 6

TALKS AT SEA

ROOSEVELT MOVE BRITAIN INVITED PRAISE OF PLEDGES NEW ZEALAND FOREMOST (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Aug. 15, 1.40 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 14. It is disclosed that the Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill, proceeded to the rendezvous with President Roosevelt at the express personal invitation of Mr. Roosevelt, who initiated the conference. It is believed the meeting occurred last week-end and occupied three days. It will not be necessary for either Parliament or Congress to ratify the document and no special recall of the House of Commons to discuss it is likely. All Britain had been waiting for the expected statement by the Lord Privy Seal, Major C. R. Attlee, an extraordinary aspect of which is that though many persons in the know have been talking for the last .fortnight about Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt meeting no word of this has appeared in the British press. The joint declaration by Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill made a deep impression in Belgian Government circles in London, where it was received with the greatest satisfaction. Emphasising that several of the principles enunciated were the object of the declaration confirmed by the resolution adopted at the conclusion of the meeting of Allied Governments on June 12. official Belgian circles state it is extremely important that a solemn agreement on such principles between Britain and the United States should have been made, for this has emphasised the solidarity which united them and unites all nations fighting for the cause of liberty, not only in the waging of war but in the organisation of peace. American Satisfaction A Washington message says the first reaction of the American people to the Churchill-Roosevelt statement is one of genuine satisfaction. It is Celt that the two great leaders of democracy have offered pledges, dependent on the ultimate defeat of Nazi tyranny, which come up to true democratic ideals. Looking at the matter purely from their own viewpoint Americans feel that the President has gone as far as he can without seeking Congressional consent in the agreement with Mr. Churchill to see the war brought to a successful •conclusion. The agreement is regarded as a rough outline of the peace terms which America is prepared to support in collaboration with Britain. It is not known vyhen Mr. Roosevelt will return to Washington. It is understood that he is still at sea somewhere off New England. New Zealand has been foremost in endorsing the Churchill-Roosevelt declaration. The New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr. P. Fraser, who is -visiting England, stated: "The declaration is a striking and most important document and will give great satisfaction tc democratic and progressive peoples everywhere. It embodies in a brief form the principles for which the British commonwealth and all our allies are lighting and to which the United States is contributing sc notably. In every aspect it is worthy of the two great democracies which to-day stand on -common ground in the cause of the preservation and furtherance of freedom for all men in all lands.”