TASK FOR THE LEAGUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18963, 10 March 1925, Page 9

TASK FOR THE LEAGUE.

SEARCH FOR SECURITY. PROTOCOL VERSUS PACT, VIEWS ON GERMAN PROPOSAL. By 'leiecranh Pre=s Association—Copyright (Received 7.5 p.m.) Renter Times. LONDON. Mar. 8. A message from Geneva states that Mr. | Austen Chamberlain, British Secretary . of State for Foreign Affairs, has arrived j there for the conference of the Lea.;"Jo of Nations on the disarmament protocol. Mr. C hamborlain is accompanied bv a British delegation of ten members. These include naval, military and air experts. M. \ enizelos (Greece), the Japanese, t itiguayan, and other delegates, arrived by the same train. Ihe Paris correspondent of the Times sa\s Mr. Chamberlain s recent speech in the. House of Commons pleased France, where it, is regarded as having definitely | connected Britain with the maintenance jof European peace. The only regret exi pressed is the absence of tangible British j proposals. It may easily be imagined, says the j correspondent,, that there is scepticism tei garding Germany's good faifh. A strong j belief is still widely held that Germany's | apparently conciliatory attitude is merely j aimed at encouraging the Powers in tho | direction of the evacuation of the occu- ! pied areas. j Therefore, it is not surprising that the j French are suspicious, and that their j thoughts are largely centred on a purely | Allied pact. Mr. Chamberlain's Difficulties. I A cartoon is published in a Sunday | paper which shows Mr. Chamberlain j climbing the Alps loaded with a bulging j pack labelled "European difficulties." This | is a mild way of illustrating his heavy j responsibilities relative to the forthcoming conference at Geneva, preliminary to 1 which have been his diplomatic visits to Paris during the week-end. Mr. Chamberlain and M. Skr/ynski j | (Poland) are notable advocates respect- j ively of the pros and cons of the German I pact proposal. Tho French Premier, M. llerriot, is on j tho horns of a dilemma in this connec- j tion, as France's military alliance with Poland and Czecho-Slovakia will necessitate a German guarantee respecting the eastern, as well as the western frontier. In the course of his conversation with j M. Herriot, according to the Ilavas agency, Mr. Chamberlain suggested a five-Power guarantee pact between Britain. France, Italy, Belgium and Germany, to be eventually joined by Poland and (//.echoSlovakia. The. British Minister expressed the opinion that such a pact would be accompanied by general peace in Europe and would consolidate in particular the position of Poland. Mr. Chamberlain and M. Herriot arc said to have agreed that Germany s application for admission to the League, of Nations must be unconditional. The upshot of the. conversations is likely to bo an inter-Allied conference to which Germany may be admitted. German Nationalists Upset. A message from Berlin states that although tho nature of the German proposals for a security pact have not yet j been disclosed, reports regarding them havo upset the Nationalist newspapers. Tho National Post says the proposals are tantamount to the surrender of Alsace and Lorraine and the districts of Eupen and Malmedy, and practically the surrender of tho agreement regarding the existing frontiers on the east and west, which it describes as an outrage. Tho Deutsche Tages Zeitung, which says the proposals recognise the status quo of tho western frontiers, proposes arbitration regarding the east. It says the proposals testify to Germany's firm resolve for pacification. TLe Berliner Tageblatt says a general security pact would be a more tellable guarantee for Franco than a militarv alliance by France with her eastern vassals. A Paris despatch states that the newspaper comments which confirm the Deutscho Tages Zeitung's report of the nature of Germany's proposals are generally hostilo to the*idea of arbitration. They emphasise the difference in the viewpoints of Paris and London. There is no likelihood, they say, of the conversations between Mr. Chamberlain and M. Herriot effecting a settlement of questions most of which require long and difficult negotiations.