NOTABLE PROGRESS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 94, 20 March 1936, Page 9

NOTABLE PROGRESS

REPORT OF MEETING. ' AGREEMENT REACHED. GERMANY ADAMANT. / (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, March 19. The latest meeting of the Locarno Powers to consider the German action in the Rhineland ended at 2 a.m. A communique says: “The meeting examined the draft of a general agreement, subject to the reservation of certain items requiring further examination. Nocable progress has been made.” Mr R. A. Eden, Mr Ramsay MacDonald, Mr Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Halifax held a conference after the meeting. It is understood that the Locarno Powers have alread reached agreement on three points, namely:— There shall first be an appeal to The Hague Court regarding the compatibility of the Franco-Soviet Pact with the Locarno Treaty. Secondly, there shall be a demilitarised zone only on the German side of the frontier, policed by international forces.' Thirdly, an agreement regarding collaboration between the British and French General Staffs. The Daily Telegraph’s diplomatic correspondent, understands that the hands of Herr Von ltibbentrop, German Envoy to the League Council, are tied, and that he is unable to take any step without telephonic consultation with Berlin. German circles state that no compromise is possible on two points. Germany will not agree to reference to The Hague Court or withdrawal of troops from the Rhineland. LOCARNO POWERS. JOINT MEMORANDUM. “SATISFACTORY PROGRESS.” Received March 20, 11.10 a.m. LONDON, March 19. Cabinet later to-day will consider the joint memorandum of the Locarno Powers, which the French Cabinet is simultaneously discussing. The two Governments will be in direct communication. German circles are most pessimistic of the prospects of German acceptance of the memorandum. A French delegation communique says the four Powers have made great and satisfactory progress towards an agreement. The position at present is that the delegations have drafted among them a text which is being put in the form in which it will be submitted to the respective governments. The communique is taken as indicating that an agreement has been reached pending ratification by the English and French Governments. M. Flandin has left for Paris by air.