PORTUGAL’S ATTITUDE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 259, 30 September 1936, Page 9

PORTUGAL’S ATTITUDE.

ADVICE TO COMMITTEE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Sept. 28. At the fourth meeting of the International Committee for the application of the agreement regarding non-intervention in Spain, held at the Foreign Office this afternoon, the chairman, Lord Plymouth, in the absence of Mr W. S. Morrison, who is at present at Geneva., informed the committee that he had summoned the meeting to take the first possible opportunity of advising them of the decision of the Portuguese Government to nominate a representative. The committee received the information with great satisfaction, and the composition of the chairman’s subcommittee has been enlarged by the addition of the representative of Portugal. The chairman explained that the Portuguese decision followed a communication by Mr Morrison to the Portuguese Foreign Minister of the conclusions reached by the committee as to procedure to be adopted by it on receipt of complaints respecting alleged breaches of the agreement. The committee hoped such complaints would be few, if any. In a letter in which, he acknowledged Mr Morrison’s communication, Senor Monteiro said: “As the rules of procedure adopted answer doubts which I had formulated, I am happy to inform you that a representative of my country will take part in the next meeting of the committee. On this occasion I wish to emphasise that the reserves or conditions which in the name of the Portuguese Government I communicated to the Birtish and French Governments in my note of August 21 last are in no sense affected by the above-mentioned decision, and that my Government maintains them in their entirety.” Lord Plymouth also informed the committee to-day that since its last meeting the chairman’s sub-commit-tee had had under consideration a number of important matters connected with the enforcement of the agreement for non-intervention. On some of these questions. particularly thosce which raised legal issues, members of the committee had invited their respective governments to furnish the committee with statements setting out their views. A further meeting of the 6ub-committee ■would be held immediately after the main committee, at which these questions would he further considered. As soon as the subcommittee was in a position to do so, it would prepare a report on these questions for consideration by the cornmThe'committee was informed that since its last meeting good progress had been made with the reporting of a document summarising legislative and other measures taken by the participating governments to give effect to the agreement for non-inter-vention.