COLONIAL PLAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 16 December 1937, Page 7

COLONIAL PLAN

A I’I’REH ENSIGN IN BELGIUM

BRUSSELS, 2nd December, j A report in the Antwerp newspaper ; "Mctropolc” on the proposal to estab- j lish new colonics in Africa for .exploi- j tation by Germany, Belgium, and Por- ! lugal has caused surprise in Belgium, j 1 ft has been followed by a semi- - official statement that Belgium would 1 never agree that her sovereignty in 1 the Congo should be questioned. The report was sent by the correspondent of the International News 1 Service at Berlin, who said that he un- i J derstood that Germany’s immediate;: colonial proposals would include the I outright return of Togoland and the : Camcroons, and the creation of a mandated territory in Africa for exploitation in common by Germany, Belgium, and Portugal. Germany, lie added, wanted the territory to cover the larger part of the

southern portion ol’ the Belgian Congo and Portuguese Angola, and she also wanted the area to be vested in her

by the establishment of a chartered ■ company, in which she would hold 51 j per cent, of the shares. The Right Wing parlies in the Senate launched a vigorous protest against the suggestion that Belgium’s colonial rights should be linked with Germany’s demand lor colonies. They declare that nobody had the right to challenge the integrity of the Congo, which had been built up by 50 years of Belgian endeavour.