GERMAN COMPLAINT

Grey River Argus, 11 December 1928, Page 5

GERMAN COMPLAINT

MISLED BY BRIAND. What’s the Use of Locarno Pact ? (Australian & N.Z. Cable Assn). LONDON, December 8. For Hie first time since the mid-year Sir A. Chamberlain, M. Briand and Herr 'Strescniana will reunite at Lugano, at the League Council meeting, for Which Sir A. Chamberlain left this morning. Whitehall does not. expect the evacuation of the Rhineland to be brought up as a Council subject. Indeed, the “Zcitung Ai-mitagg-’-’ declares that Cabinet has instructed Herr Stresemnnn not to raise the subject, but to avoid discussion wherein he would have to declare that Germany was "unable to offer financial or other compensation for premature evacuation. It is generally agreed that the “Big Three’’ will informally confer on divergencies of view, appointing an expert committee to carry out the ideas propounded at Geneva in September. LUGANO, December 9. Sir Austen Chamberlain, M. Briand, and Herr Stresemann have arrived, and commenced informal consultation. It is generally admitted that the international situation is strained. The Germans complain that M. Briand has misled them by telling them to be patient until after the Flench general election of the spring. They now fear that they may be faced with a close Franco-British Entente. Sir Austen Chamberlain will thus be in the role of “Austen the peacemaker’’ between Paris and Berlin. The latter is asking what is the use of signing the Locarno Paet if France is still requiring security to an undefined extent. The “Daily Express,’’ emphasising •fir Austen’s difficult task, says: If he persists in the one-sided championship of everything French, and if he maintains that reparations and evacuation are indissolubly linked up, then Sir Austen Chamberlain will not be speaking for Great Britain. The League Secretariat announces that, the March meeting of the Council will probably be held at Madrid, in recognition of Spain’s return.