PEACE OF THE WORLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 10 December 1938, Page 9

PEACE OF THE WORLD

ONE GLEAM OF HOPE MR CHAMBERLAIN’S APPEASEMENT POLICY VIEWS OF MR O. PIROW [British Official Wireless! RUGBY Bth December. I | The following statement was issued | on behalf of the South African Minister | of Defence. Mr O. Pirow. from South j Africa House to-night: j “On the eve of my departure for South Africa I want to thank the British Government for the generous way it has assisted us in our defence requirements. This sympathetic attitude is all the more appreciated because we realise how ! deeply Britain is concerned with j her own rearmament programme. “In spite of the correction administered to my views by a section of the Press—which apparently does not appreciate the value of an international settlement of the refugee question as a hopeful approach to European appeasement— I leave Europe with a feeling: of almost unqualified anxiety. “One gleam of hope to my njind is the fact that Mr Chamberlain will spare no effort to secure a lasting basis for peace. His phenomenal success in Munich encourages one to believe he may also save the present situation. “At the same time it must be accepted that he has made all the ad-1 vances which can reasonably be expected and a gesture should now come from one or more of the other parties to the Munich agreement. “In any case, his efforts in the direction of international understanding will nowhere be watched with more appreciation and sympathy than i in South Africa.” Mr Pirow and Mrs Pirow lunched with the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace. A Press Association report says Mr Pirow declared that nowhere had he discovered a desire to regard the ‘ colonies question as urgent.