MACDONALD AND HERRIOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18756, 9 July 1924, Page 11

MACDONALD AND HERRIOT.

CONFEEENCE IN PASIS.

AN UNDERSTANDING DESIRED

FRENCH FEELING CALMED.

RECENT STORM UNWARRANTED.

OTHER ALLIES NOT DISTURBED.

fi* Teleeranh—Press Association —Copyright (Received 11.5 p.m. 5 Beater—Times. LONDON. July 7. The Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, will leave for Paris to-morrow in order to confer with M. Herriot, Premier of Franca

In the course of a statement in the House of Commons to-day, Mr. MacDonald said there was absolutely no foundation whatever for the storm which,had arisen regarding his invitations to the conference in London on July 16. Ho said that the communications sent to Italy, Japan, the United States, and Belgium were merely repetitions of British suggestions concerning the task at the forthcoming conference, - which had already been submitted to, and fully discussed by, the Belgian Ministers, and M. Herriot at Chequers. These suggestions were simultaneously embodied, for purposes of record, in a semi-official communication from the permanent head of the British Foreign Office to the permanent head of the French Foreign Office. No communication in this connection had been made by, or on behalf of, the British Government to the German Government.

Warning to Mischief-Mafeers. Continuing, Mr. Mac Donald said he was not going to allow any mischiefmaker on either side of the channel to destroy the prospects of a settlement between Britain and France if he could help it. It was too horrible to contemplate the charge that the British Government was trying to abolish the Reparation Commission. He hoped that if an agreement could be reached on the reparation experts' plan it could be supplemented by an inter-Allied agreement. Then, in" the event of a wilful default by Germany after she had accepted the experts' plan, the Allies shouldl stand shoulder to shoulder in pressing h(iif resDonsibilities upon her.' "-■ ' But, who was going to decide, in respect to the experts' plan, whether Germany was wilfully defaulting or not! Any agreement would be additional to, and not a substitution for, anything proposed in the Versailles Txeaty. The Prime Minister asserted that Belgium, Italy, and Japan were all satisfied with the form of his invitation. The complaint against it bad-been made for purposes which required further explanation. The whole affair wts a mere "storm in a teacup." French Pessimism Dispelled. A message from Paris states that Mr. Mac Donald's decision to pay an immediate visit to M. Herriot has produced a remarkable change of tone and dispelled the increasing wave of pessimism. The visit :is regaided as a rebuke to the organisers of the unscrupulous antiHerri ot campaign. The Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph states that Mr. Mac Donald's "decision has created something of a sensation in French political circles. It is taken as a proof of the importance he attaches to the removal without delay of al} misunderstandings between Franca and

Britain prior to the London conference. The announcement of the impending fisit has had the immediate effect of postponing the attack on M. Herriot's foreign policy, which the ex-Premier, M. Poincaie, had planned to lead in the Senate on Tuesday.

The Paris Temps says:—ln France,, as in England, the people like those who take personaj. trouble. The French public will therefore cordially welcome Mr. MaeDonald. May he quickly reach an understanding with M. Herriot in the search for an equitable: agreement for securing the application of the Dawes report

The Rome correspondent of the Times says that political circles in Italy are disinclined to attach much political importance to-the storm in Paris over Mr. Mac Donald's memorandum on the London conference. The Italian Government quite definitely takes the view that the memorandum simply expressed the British viewpoint, and that no undertaking to agree to it was involved. It is understood, however, that the suggestions are favourably regarded in Rome.

PEACE OF .EUROPE,

REPARATIONS CONFERENCE.

LIMITATION OF ITS SCOPE.

LONDON, June 30.

"The Allied Reparations Conference, which will be held in London, must be confined to the consideration of the expert committee's scheme," says the Times. "The discussions could be extended to cover the questions of interAllied debts, the security and position of Poland and Czecho-Slovakia, the designs of the Bolsheviks, and even the African axid the Near East problems. Burdtited with such impediments, the reparations question would never be settled.

" The only solution is to detach the reparations problem from the others, and to make a single-minded effort to use speedily the unique opportunity provided by the Dawes scheme. The limitation of the scope of the conference is more essential because the conversation between the British and French Prime Ministers at The Chequers have already produced some confusion, requiring explanations in the French and British Parliaments. " It will be unfortunate if these developments . obscure the chief decision arrived at at The Chequers, which was the eeparation of the. question of reparations from that of security. Although security is re:evant to.reparations, it is still in the realm of conjecture. On the contrary, tbe experts' scheme, although a staitling innovation in international affairs, offers the only practical plan for getting Europe out of the miserable rut, and securing a changed situation and a new perspective.' 1