The Gisborne Times TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1936. THE GERMANO-AUSTRIAN ACCORD.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXV, Issue 12912, 14 July 1936, Page 3

The Gisborne Times TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1936. THE GERMANO-AUSTRIAN ACCORD.

Tho announcement that Germany has succeeded in arranging ,an accord onco again with. Austria will not come as a great surprise. It seems that the Austrian Chancellor holds that such a condition of things is only natural on tho part of the two Teutonic peoples. Ho does not admit that the accord amounts to tho award on the part of Austria of the right on the part of 'Germany to spread the gospel of Nazism in Austria, but it is significant that Austrian Nazis are to bo permitted to wear the Nazi emblem. The general impression will be that it will be only a question of time when Austria will again come under tho dominance of Germany and that a Germano-Austrian military alliance will once more follow in due course, fu some quarters, it is supposed that the entente between Germany and Austria was engineered by Italy. What is moro likely to bo true is merely that Italy’s sympathy . was secured in connection with the accord, which amounts not only to a further fineturo of the spirit of the Versailles Tieaty but, what is still more importout. it intended as a< reply to tho Franco-Russian alliance. The most .unhappy nation in the matter is hound to be Czcciho-Slovukia, which, is now threatened from the west as well as from the east. It must be widely recognised that in the event of hostilities in which France and Russia won id bo acting in combination, Russia v.ould not hesitate to use Czechoslovakia as a corridor by means of which she might attack Germany and Austria. To-day. Germany will now be better circumstanced in the matter of carrying out her plans to regain Danzig. There can be no question but that in any such exploit she would have Austria at he l : back and Italy would claim that she was in no way interested in the fate of the Haltm port. It had been well-known For some time that Germany was angling for a renewal of her pre-war understanding with Austria. As u matter or fact, several influential Britishers recently visited Austria to ascertain the amount of headway that had been made in connection with the neguiations. What they gleaned has not. been made public, but it is plain, i.bat to-day, nothing is moro feared in Bn-, tain—even more so than the pohli al confusion in France and the highhanded attitude of Italy—than the menace represented by the growth of .'militarism in Germany. In this connection, it may Ire recalled that or the part of the British pacifists there was recently a great outcry over a very pointed address on the vulnerability of Britain by the new Secretary for War. But what Mr. Duff Cooper said-wan nvld compared with llte warning just issued by Sir/ Samuel Tfoaro, who has been recalled to tire British Cabinet to take over tho highest political position in respect o! the Admiralty. What may now be taken for granted is that the British authorities have become thoroughly awakened to the necessity for the speedy re-armament of the British Isles and for the protection of Britain’s trade routes. It should come a. no surprise, there!ore, if British re-armament is now pushed ahead at a rate never before witnessed.