WEST POWERS MAY SOON GIVE GERMANS “BILL OF RIGHTS”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22665, 16 June 1948, Page 5

WEST POWERS MAY SOON GIVE GERMANS “BILL OF RIGHTS”

(N.Z.F.A.—Reut«r —Copyright.) (11.30 a.m.) BERLIN, June 15. The Western Powers are considering ending soon the period of Germany’s “unconditional surrender” and replacing it with “a statute of occupation” which, in effect, will be an informal German peace treaty.

The statute would be a “Bill of Rights” for the Germans and set responsibilities and rights for a German government and the Western military governments.

[ Arrangements have been completed to institute currency reform in western Germany, according to the Associated Press correspondent in Hamburg. British Army trucks have distributed new marks all over the British zone. Currency Reform Talks General Sir Brian Robertson, General L. Clay, and General Koenig conferred at Frankfurt. It is believed that they discussed currency reform. Genera] Robertson and General Clay conferred with the German Premiers of the combined zones and bizonal economic officials, but did not tell the Germans the date on which the new currency would operate. The Russians closed the Elbe Bridge for repair early this afternoon. Western Powers’ vehicles have begun making a detoUr 15 miles north of the British zone to an old-fashioned ferry carrying six cars at a time causing at least an hour’s delay. The ferry is operated only between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time. There is an excellent bridge a few miles south of the one under repair. Russian officers today frequently drove uo to the ferry, smiled at it and drove off. Coal Supplies Held Up

British officials in Berlin said the Russian border guards have refused to let 140 coal trucks from the Western zones to enter Berlin in the past two days. The Russians’ excuse was that the waggons were defective. Soviet-licensed newspapers _ reported that the Communists had obtained over 13,000.000 signatures to a petition for German unity. The Russians protested to the Americans against the arrest at Wiesbaden of Count Heinrich von Einsiedel, a staff writer of the official Soviet newspaper Taegliche Rundschau. Count Einsiedel was a member of Moscow’s “National Committee for Free Germany,’’ comprising officers of Germany’s armies at Stalingrad. The American authorities and the German police denied knowledge of the arrest.

The Russian newspaper Red Star reports that Russians in Austria protested to the British and Americans against tNj alleged kidnapping of a Soviet oiTTcer in Vienna by an American intelligence employee and a British military patrol on June 4. The Red Star said that several Russian soldiers saw the incident and went to an Austrian police strv'on, rescued the Russian and detained an American employee. A Vienna report on June 4 said that six Russian soldiers stormed a police station and released two drunken comrades whom the British had arrested.