LONDON TALKS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21816, 12 September 1945, Page 5

LONDON TALKS

PEACE IN EUROPE

BIG FIVE MEET , DRAFTING TREATIES FOUR AXIS SATELLITES (11 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 11. The Foreign Ministers of the five Great Powers met in London to-day to plan for the transition in Europe from the present state of armistice to peace. The broad outlines of the peace treaties with Italy, Rumania, Hungary and Finland will be etched by the big Five, says the Press Association’s diplomatic s correspondent. The details will be worked out by the deputies whom each has appointed and the large technical staffs accompanying them who will remain in London after their principals return to their own countries. Priority is given to the peace with Italy because it is felt she will be assisted in the tasks of reconstruction by a resumption of normal international relations. The chief difficulties will arise in the boundary and frontier problems. Balkan Situration Complicated The conclusion of a peace treaty with Finland should not be difficult. There will, however, be powerful arguments among the five strong personalities who have not hitherto worked as a council before the complicated Balkan situation, with its Greek and Yugoslav complications, is clarified and treaties are drafted. The council, at a latter stage, will prepare a peace settlement for Germany for acceptance by the German Government when a Government adequate for the purpose is established.

The United States Secretary of State, Mr. James Brynes visited Mr, Ernest Bevin at the Foreign Office this morning. Mr. Bevin later saw M. Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister, and discussed procedure machinery for the council meetings which are expected to last a fortnight. The French Foreign Minister, M. Bidault, in an interview in London, declared that Europe is a unit and must not be divided. He added that Britain and France must proceed with harmony and good partnership. A system must not be evolved which would divide Europe. . “The Foreign Ministers’ agenda does not include the question of Germany which is of great interest to France who was not represented at the Potsdam conference,” he said. “It is desirable the question should be examined and settled.” Three Urgent Problems

M. Bidault added that such discussions might include the appointment of German Under-Secretaries of State in the various occupation zones and the status of the left bank of the Rhine. “Food, coal and transport _ are the most pressing items on any international agenda,” says The Times, in a leader. “Unless food and essential consumption goods can be produced in sufficient quantities, unless employment for the urban population can be organised, and unless vital public services are restored, Germany this winter faces the nrospect of famine and probably pestilence on a scale experienced by no European country for several hundred years. . • “The time has come to arrest the process of destruction and decay and to take positive measures to re-establish under Allied supervision those sectors of German economy which are essential to the existence and livelihood of the large industrial population and the maintenance of the European standards of living as a whole. “The Foreign Ministers will gain little from the successful handling _of other issues if they fail to come to grips on the gravest danger at present suspended over Europe.” . The Times considers that Mr. Bevin s special responsibilities during the meeting will be the maintenance of close contact with the Dominions’ representatives.