MORE CREDITS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23405, 22 July 1939, Page 13

MORE CREDITS

LIKELY BRITISH MOVE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IMPORTANT PROSPECT \ OUTBIDDING THE AXIS LONDON, July 17 Yugoslavia and Bulgaria will probably receive a share of the £60,000,000 in credits for other than strictly trade purposes that Britain has decided to grant to other countries. Hitherto, the only recipients mentioned have been Poland, Rumania, Greece and Turkey. If the British Cabinet agrees, as it-is confidently expected it will, it will be a significant move, calculated to strengthen the Peace Front. It is believed that Yugoslavia and Bulgaria at the outset will receive only token guarantees, and the granting of further guarantees would depend on the degree to which these nations swing toward the anti-aggression bloc. Unquestionably London and Pans are making an effort to attract these countries. If it is successful, it will bo immensely important, because it will mean that the whole Balkan Peninsula, except Albania, will then be within the Peace Front, giving the Axis Powers further reason to pause. • The joint Yugoslavian - Bulgarian declaration about mutual interests, including a determination to retain their neutrality after following the Berlin conversations of the Bulgarian Prime Minister, M. Kiosseivanoff, and the Yugoslav Foreign Minister, M, Markovitch, were regarded as a victory for Herr Hitler. Now the impression is gained at Whitehall that the pronouncement did not go as far as Germany would have wished, although it is believed that Herr Hitler welcomes the South Slav rapprochement. M. Kiosseivanoff admits that this was one of the subjects that he discussed with Herr Hitler, but leading Bulgarians were greatly relieved to know that M. Kiosseivanoff while in Berlin did not sign any' menacing pact.