PEACE OFFER TO FRANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16674, 19 October 1917, Page 5

PEACE OFFER TO FRANCE.

QUESTION OF ALSACE. ', GERMAN RECANTATION. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 6.5 p.m.) PARIS, Oct. 17. Replying to a German denial that she gave.France to understand . that negotiations might be opened for tho restitution of Alsace and Lorraine, tho Matin states that a diplomatist bearing the authority of the signatures of tho Kaiser and the Imperial Chancellor asked Franco to bogin negotiations in Switzerland. Germany also approached England through a neutral Power with tho object of securing a separate peace. She offered an entirely satisfactory settlement iof ■'' tho Belgian question. Germany also had asked Russia to stipulate her demands, indicating that Franco and England would negotiate for a separate peace. ' The Chamber of Deputies held a secret session to discuss &■ recent statement by M. Ribot, Minister for Foreign ( Affairs, that Germany had hinted at her prepared, ness to restore Alsace and Lorraine if Franco would consent to discuss peace. The Chamber canned a unanimous vote of confidence in the Government.

MOVE BY CATHOLICS. CONGRESS A FAILURE. Admiralty per Wireless. BERNE, pet. 17. Swiss Catholics with pro-German sympathies convened an, international congress, at Berno for October 15 to promote a durable .peace. .Sixty-five Austrians and Germans, including Herr Erzberger, .leader; of > tho German •; Catholic ; Party in the Reichstag;/ three ■ Italians,' one Russian' and one named 'British ■ subject', arrived to participate,; but ,the failure of the movement' from .an 'international standpoint led, to the postponement to November 12. * ' .