PEACE APPEAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23503, 14 November 1939, Page 8

PEACE APPEAL

KING'S MESSAGE FIRM ATTITUDE ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS FUTURE OP EUROPE By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received November IS, 5.5 p.m.) British Wireless LONDON. Nov. 12 The King to-day sent to Queen Wilhelmina of tho .Netherlands _ and King Leopold of Belgium tho British reply to tho offer of mediation for peaco made by Their Majesties to Britain, France and Germany. The reply sent to Queen Wilhelmina—that to King Leopold being in Bimilar terms —was as follows: " X have carefully examined with my Governments in tho United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa tho appeal which Your Majesty and His Majesty tho King of tho Belgians on August 23, in the name of the heads of State of tho Oslo group of tho States, in which Your Majesty pleaded for tho submission of disputes and claims to open negotiation carried out in a spirit of brotherly cooperation. Previous Offer Recalled "My Government in tho United Kingdom, as well as tho French Government, sent favourable replies to this appeal. I recall also the joint offer of good offices mado by Your Majesty and tho King of tho .Belgians to my Government and to tho French, German, Italian and Polish Governments on August 23. This offer was welcomed by my Government and by tho French, Italian and Polish Governments. A few days later the German Government launched an unprovoked attack on Poland, which has been overrun with every circumstance of brutality. " My Governments deeply appreciate tho spirit of Your Majesty's offer and they would always bo willing to examine a reasonable and assured basis for an equitablo peace. It is, as it has always been, my desire that the war should not last one day longer than is absolutely necessary, and I can therefore at once jeply to that part of Your Majesty's appeal in which you 6tate your . willingness to facilitate the ascertaining of elements of tho agreements to be reached. Germany's Policy "Tho essential conditions upon which ive are determined an honourable peace must bo secured have already been plainly stated. Documents which have been' published since the . beginning of the war clearly explain its -origin and establish the responsibility for its outbreak. "My peoples took up arms only after every effort had been made to save peaco. The immediate occasion leading to our decision to enter war was Germany's aggression against Poland. " " But this aggression was only a fresh instance of German policy toward her neighbours. Tho larger purposes for which my peoples are now fighting are to secure, that . Europe may he Redeemed, in the words of my Prime 1 Minister, from' perpetually recurring fear of German aggression, so as to enable the people of Europe to preserve their independence and their liberties, and to prevent for the future resort to force instead of to pacific means in the settlement of international disputes. Allies' Aims Clear "Theso aims have been amplified and enlarged on a number of occasions, in particular in statements made by my Prime Minister in the House of Commons on October 12 and by the Foreign Secretary in the House of Lords on November 2. " Tho elements which, in the opinion of my governments, must form part of any settlement, emerge clearly and distinctly ■ from these declarations of policy. "Should Your Majesty be able to communicate to me any proposals from Germany of such character as to afford a real prospect of achieving" the purpose I have described above, I can say at once that my Governments would give them utmost earnest consideration."

INFERIOR AIRCRAFT .GERMANY'S "FLYING BRICK" / LONDON, Nov. 7 X German pilot landed at a French aerodrome, believing it to be a German base, and thus afforded the Allies an opportunity to test' Hitler's much-vaunted new • Messerschmidt aeroplane. The test thoroughly proved that the Allies' machines are superior in every department. Designed to use inferior petrol, the German machine attained a maximum /speed which approximated only 300 miles an hour, at which speed tho structure rattled dangerously. It is stated that at essential air-fighting speed it would be impossible to manoeuvro thp' machine quickly. t The German pilot admitted that tho Germans nicknamed these aeroplanes "flying bricks."