BRITAIN IN PEACE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 225, 22 August 1945, Page 5

BRITAIN IN PEACE

ROLE IN WORLD TASKS,

LABOUR'S FOREIGN POLICY. (N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, Aug. 21.

"It can fairly be said that we held the fort and preserved the soul of mankind. Our policy now must be to be worthy of our people," said the Foreign Secretary (Mr Ernest Bevin) at the conclusion of his first policy speech in the House of Commons as Foreign Secretary.

Mr Bevin had earlier discussed Europe's vital food problem and the political situation in Italy and the Balkans.

Belgium, he said, had made great headway, and output appeared to be improving. The ftethenandcrs were working with a will to make good the ravages of war, while Norway's task of reconstruction had begun.

Regarding the policy towards France, Mr Bevin said he would make a detailed statement after talks with the French Government to clear away difficulties, so that both countries could contribute to Europe's economic stability. A financial agreement had been signed with Denmark and the Government looked forward to the full resumption of trade, which would assist the British food supply. The opening of the Baltic permitted the resumption of trade with Sweden. The Finnish Government had been invited to appoint a Minister to London and to regard the British political representative at Helsinki as having a similar rank.

POLAND'S BOUNDARIES'. Poland's actual future area must be settled at the peace table. He had always supported Mr Churchill's view of the danger of the Poles going too far to the west. The final delimitation of frontiers depended largely on what populations returned to Poland.

While at Potsdam Mr Attlee and he three times made representations to the Polish Government and were assured that all Poles returning ( to Poland, whether members of the Services or civilians, would be accorded personal rights and property rights on the same basis as all Polish citizens. Mr Attlee and he at Potsdam found there was a kind of vacuum in the area between the Eastern and Western Niesse owing to the Germans having been driven out and the area having been largely handed over to the Poles. They had come to the conclusion that the region's economy might at least be restored and the territories enabled to contribute to devastated Europe. It was hoped to hold elections not later than early in 1946. They were assured that religious freedom would remain. The Poles accepted their request for the right of entry of the world'* Press and the dispatch of uncensored news. . The question of the regime in Spam was one for the Spanish people to decide, and he would go no further than the Potsdam Conference, which made it plain that, while they did not desire permanently to penalise the Spaniards, Spain could not be admitted to "the club" unless it accepted the basic principle of the people's right freely to elect thenown form of Government. On the other hand, he was satisfied that foreign Powers' intervention in Spam would have the opposite effect from what was desired and would probably strengthen General Franco's position. Both Britain and Russia would withdraw from Persia when the purpose of defeating the enemy, for which reason Persia had agreed to the occupation, was accomplished. THAILAND'S RETRACTION. Mr Bevin added that it had now been learned that the Thai Regent had issued a proclamation on August i(i denouncing the war declaration against Britain as null and void and declaring its intention to make restitution. The text would be carefully considered to see if it could form an instrument to regularise the present anomalous position. Thailand's association with Japan left many questions for settlement, and Britain's attitude would depend on the way in which Thailand met the requirements of the Allied troops about to enter her country and the extent to which they were ready to undo the wrongs they had. committed and make restitution for' the loss and damage caused fo British and Allied interests.

Mr Bevin asked not to be pressed concerning the internationalisation of Europe''s waterways, the question of the Dardanelles and Turkey's position, all of which would be carefully studied.

"I ought, however, to say, in order to make our position clear," he added, "that one of the most vital areas affecting the British Commonwealth and Empire, as indeed it does the world's peace, is the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Regarding the Ear East the task of resettlement faces us in those great areas. The problem is no less serious from the viewpoint of the world's peace than the European problem, and the fact that the Far East is a long way off does not blind us to the necessity of accepting wholeheartedly the new principle that peace is indivisible."

MR EDEN'S CONGRATULATIONS. The former Foreign Secretary (Mr Eden) congratulated Mr Bevin on the forthrightness of his speech, and added that during the four and a half years they had served together in the War Cabinet he did not remember a ■ single difference between himself and Mr Bevin on an important issue of foreign policy. "He helped me in that critical period, and I, in the same spirit, would like to try to help him now," he said. Mr Eden said he agreed entirely with Mr Bevin regarding Greece, and added: "If there is one country about whose radio propaganda and criticism of Greece I feel badly, it is Bulgaria. Bulgaria's treatment of our prisoners has been bad, and generally she is not a country to which we have any cause to be tender. ' "I think Poland's western frontier has been moved, too far to the west, just as after the last war the eastern frontier was moved too far to the east," he said. Mr Eden referred, among other problems, to Yugoslavia, where, he said, we had joined with our Russian and American allies in recommending the recognition of the present Government on the basis of a guarantee of freedom to members of all political parties. Apparently there was not now the freedom there should be if that agreement was being carried out. "We have the right to ask for these assurances to be carried out, 1 ' he said.