Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, JULY 31, 1939. AID FOR POLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 205, 31 July 1939, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, JULY 31, 1939. AID FOR POLAND.

The emergence on the Continent of the axis philosophy of politics, with the consequent corollary of a return to the once-spurned balance of power, has introduced a new technique in European relationships dictated by hard facts. Since the virtual demise of the League of Nations as an instrument of international policy, the most intense diplomatic activity has produced Power formations similar to those in existence prior to the Great War. Put beyond the well-defined relationships of certain hey States, notably the Reich and Italy, Britain and France, Turkey and Britain, and Italy and Spain, an unstable condition subsists between other and smaller national units, whose alignment might conceivably weigh the balance in the event of a trial of strength. These countries, and chiefly those of the Balkan Entente and the erstwhile Little Entente, find their foreign policies to be largely dictated by economic factors, —for the sustenance and welfare of their peoples they dare not disregard the opportunity for markets. Quick to recognise the situation, Germany has in recent months sought an alliance with the most important of the smaller States, though not with the measure of success she had hoped. For their own financial probity they require both credits and an outlet for the produce of their factories and fields, and the two are indissolubly bound. It is not unnatural that their sympathies and allegiance should lie in the direction from whence their salvation subtends. A typical and most striking example is to be found in Poland which, with the disappearance of Czechoslovakia, might be regarded as the, key State of Europe. It has soundly been asserted that she is a nation confronted by two fundamental problems—security against foreign aggression and against internal want. Entering the trade maelstrom at a most inauspicious time after the Great War, she has been hampered ever since, and her export trade has never adequately been developed, nor have foreign loans been forthcoming. To-day she stands at the crossroads, and happily may find a solution with British assistance for the general welfare. Great Britain has offered to guarantee export credits to a 1 total of eight millions sterling in order to facilitate the purchase in Britain of material necessary for

Polisli defence, an arrangement analagous to the Turkish agreement. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has also indicated that discussions have proceeded on tlie possibility of a cash loan to Poland from Britain and France in conjunction— a matter on which finality has been delayed notwithstanding the fact that Hot li Powers arc “entirely at one in being willing to assist Poland in making the necessary purchases of munitions from other countries.” There are substantial grounds for believing that, following ilie trend of Anglo-Polish relations since the tightening of Hie Nazi pincers in recent months, (lie negotiations with Britain will be attended with success. Poland has succeeded in maintaining her ordinary Government Budget at a lower figure than nearly any other Central European country. If the extraordinary Budget is included, about half of her expenditure is for military purposes, causing comparative neglect of education and public works. In 1929 the per capita income of the country was far lower than that of the United. Kingdom, Denmark, and France, and between then and 1933 the real income fell by 25 per cent, in comparison with a decline in Britain of 4 per cent. Although in 1937 the national income was probably 20 per cent, higher than four years previously, Poland suffered immensely from the depression—an influence that continues to be exerted. .While production has remained about the level of 1929, the population is stated to have grown at least 10 per cent.—a! more rapid increase than either agricultural or industrial production. All these are factors affecting the stability of a nation that conceivably holds tlie key to future developments in its hands, and their resolution along the lines at present indicated should bestow immense mutual benefits.