SOVIET OFFER TO FEED ALL BERLIN “PURE PROPAGANDA”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22695, 21 July 1948, Page 5

SOVIET OFFER TO FEED ALL BERLIN “PURE PROPAGANDA”

(N.Z. P.A.—Heuter —Copyright.)

(11.30 a.m.) LONDON, July 20. The three-Power standing committee on Germany, Sir William Strang, Mr. Lewis Douglas and M. Massigli, discussed the Soviet offer of 100,000 tons of food for Berlin as a matter of first importance.

The Foreign Office spokesman said the British Government had not been officially informed of the offer.

Renter says that 100,000 tons of food is the equivalent of about 3000 Dakota loads, which is approximately three times as much as has been taken to Berlin during the 23 days of the air lift.

"If communications to the west were opened, the supply of food and other requirments would be easy. It Is not important where the food comes front, provided it is good food and is properly and fairly distributed. "In face of the efficient and orderly organisation that existed under the city authorities for the city-wide distribution of food, the Soviet claim to be alleviating the people's conditions when, in fact, it is offering food in its own sector only on an unspecified date appears to be pure propaganda.

The three western Military Governors, General Clay. General Sir Brian Robertson and General Koenig, left Berlin for Frankfurt today after preliminary talks before the conference with the German Premiers this afternoon to discuss the establishment of a west German State.

“No mention is made of obstructions to the importation of Polish coal to Berlin or of restoring the electricity cuts from the power stations under Russian control.

General Clay, referring to the Soviet food offer, said: “Proof lies in performance, not promises.” • U.S. Governor Flying to Washington General Clay has been summoned to Washington to report on the Berlin crisis. He will fly from Frankfurt tonight or tomorrow, accompanied by his political adviser, Mr. Robert Murphy. General Clay expects to be back in Berlin on July 25. A British official statement said: “There is no food shortage in the western sectors. The British and United States air lift is bringing in the equivalent of the entire consumption of the western sectors.

Long Journeys Involved

“The British, with the United States, will continue to supply the food necessary for the western sectors. If the Soviet authorities have food to supply, they should make it available to Berlin through the city authorities. “Russia is proposing to make food available to the inhabitants of the western sectors only if it is bought in the eastern sector. This would involve round journeys of up to 25 miles.”

The Soviet-controlled Berlin radio declared that after the Russian action it is logical that the western Powers quit Berlin. The Russians closed the ' autobahn from Berlin to all west-bound American vehicles.

The Russian guards turned back the first nine American vehicles attempting to reach the British zone on the grounds that the Americans did not have Russian visas, says the Associated Press correspondent.

Terms of Russian Offer Russia is sending 100,000 tons of bread grain and other foodstuffs to Berlin to feed the population. The Russian announcement, published in the official Soviet organ, i’agliche Rundschau, says: “Desiring to alleviate the position of Berlin’s population caused by separate and splitting actions of the western Powers, the Soviet Government instructed the Soviet administration in Germany to guarantee the possibility of supplying the whole German population of Berlin with the essentials of life within the existing scales.”

The statement adds that each Berlin inhabitant, regardless of the district in which he lives, will have the unlimited possibility of buying bread and other food stuffs within the existing scales in shops in the Soviet sector on the production ration card for currency which is legal tender in the Soviet zone. The German D.P.D. news agency says the Soviet authorities instructed the Berlin Food Department to increase the rations in the Russian sector of Berlin. American Air Force headquarters at Frankfurt has received no official notification of the Soviet proclamation to feed all Berlin.

American air supply operations are continuing.

“Still Be a Trifle” American official sources pointed out that the Allied Kommandatura had established a four-Power food pool in Berlin because the Russians, in 1945, said they could not feed all Berlin’s population. If the Russians were actually shipping 100,000 tons of grain from Russia to Berlin it would still be a trifle compared with the AngloAmerican contribution to feeding Germany.

The Russians, while claiming to be buying food for Berlin in Czechoslovakia, had prevented the western Allies through the blockade, from importing Czechoslovakian potatoes and Polish coal into Berlin. There was also no indication that the Russian promise to feed Berlin is the payment of 75,000 tons of foodstuffs 'which the Soviet owes the city. Derabend, Berlin’s American-licensed newspaper, declared that the Russians, after swinging the whip, were now offering sweet cake. “The whip did not frighten us and sweet cake won’t persuade us,” it added.