RELATIONS IN EUROPE.

Manawatu Standard, 1 October 1935, Page 7

RELATIONS IN EUROPE.

NOT TO BE COMMITTED

BRITAIN’S POSITION INFERRED

LONDON, Sept. 29. The News-Chronicle interprets Sir Samuel Iloare’s Note to I ranee as plainly meaning that Britain is not to be committed unconditionally to sanctions against Germany because France can prove that Germany broke the disarmament clauses of the Versailles Treaty. Britain is also not to be committed if Austria voluntarily coalesces with Germany. Moreover, sue will not be committed to military or naval action in disputable cases such as Memol, ivhere determination of the real aggressor might be very difficult. The Daily Mail hopes that the. Note is a prelude to greater aloofness from Continental entanglements and the abandonment of sanctions. It adds: It would be a real gain if henceforth Britain made the British Empire our League with London, instead of Geneva, as headquarters for determining our policy. . T The Times, in a leader, says:—Nobody who has followed the Empire s evolution can be uuder any illusion regarding its instincts for peace and justice. The Dominions are becoming more conscious of danger in a world in which great nations do not possess such a voice as theirs for choice between war and peace. Dominion Parliamentary debates' and their delegates’ attitude at Geneva have revealed a unanimity previously incredible. It is also inconceivable that the Dominions, or any class ill Britain, disagree regarding the necessity for revision of Imperial defences, although it is unnecessary to decry their inadequacy in the present situation. Rearmament does not involve a change in foreign policy, but at present, unhappily, there can be neither peace nor freedom fro® anxiety while those countries which appreciate these blessings least are allowed to be the strongest.