IN DEFIANT MOOD

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 10260, 2 December 1926, Page 5

IN DEFIANT MOOD

BRIAND OUTLINES FRANCE’S FOREIGN POLICY PROTECTION OF NATIONALS IN - ; CHINA. . “LIMIT TO THINGS” IN ITALY. STRAIGHT- TALK ~TO GERMANY. (United Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received -December 1, 7.50 p.m.) PARIS, Nov. 30. M. Briand, in the course of a statement, on foreign policy, said Syria and Tunis were settling down. France’s treatment of these territories had been approved by the Mandates Commission. France was maintaining a- moderate attitude in China, trying to folChinese interests, but France must .protect her own citizens. “YVe shall not allow French throats to be cut,” M. Briand said. There was talk of a possible massacre of foreigners in Hankow. France would defend her concession there if necessary, but it was hoped she would not become involved in" military operations. There had been ill-humored incidents in Italy, it was a pity such ill-humor was always directed against France. Fortunately, tho incidents had not led to serious results, but there was a limit to things. Consulates . and - legations should be respited. Relations were now satisfactory and Frenchmen should not pay over much attention to wild claims to French territory appearing in the Italian newspapers. V

A lasting European peace was impossible without a France and German rapprochement. “Peace,” said M. Briand,’“is a person difficult to please, demanding more than politeness. We must give ourselves to her entirely. The covenant of the League of Nations is the cornerstone of the Versailles Treaty, and the policy of the Locarno Pact merely amoimts to putting the League into action. It was a great thing that Germany voluntarily signed a pgper recognising the French frontier and renouncing the settlement of disputes by force. “Wo are not in the Rhineland,” he .said, “in order to bully Germany. Our occupation is a pledge for a specific object.” M. Briand declared that the German assertion that France had not made concessions was inexact. She had made both concessions and sacrifices. Germany had not made an) sacrifice. Her entry into the League was an honor, not a sacrifice. The sneaker said, he was convinced that the substitution of the League’s military control in Germany for interAllied control would reinforce European security. If another war broke out there would be no victors or vanquished; it would he Europe’s catastrophe.—A.N .Z.O.A.

GERMAN OPPOSITION TO

OCCUPATION

HAUNTS PEOPLE LIKE NIGHTMARE.”

(Received December 1, 8.50 p.m.) BERLIN, Nov. 30. Speaking in the Reichstag Dr Bell, the newlv-appointed Minister for the Occupied Areas, said occupation haunted the people like a nightmare. Germany had paid a high enough price for evacuation, and France s concrete promises should be fulfilled .—A .N.Z .O. A.