DEAL OVER SYRIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23966, 16 May 1941, Page 9

DEAL OVER SYRIA

TYPICAL TACTICS HITLER AND VICHY MIDDLE EAST MENACE (Real. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, May 14 There is reason to believe that the meeting of the French Cabinet, at which Admiral Darlan's negotiations with Hitler were approved, concerned the situation in Syria, says the Daily Telegraph's correspondent. Hitler is reported to have sent for Admiral Darlan in order to demand assurances that if Germans were landed in Syria by air, the French garrison would be withdrawn, or would refrain from intervening. "When Hitler sends for a foreign statesman to hand him an ultimatum." the report continues, "he usually acts as though its terms have been already fulfilled. Therefore, we may expect to hear at any moment that German aeroplanes carrying troops and material have actually landed in Aleppo. The possibility of landings from the sea must also bo considered. Discussions by Allies "The official report issued after the Cabinet meeting at Vichy seems to be merely a smokescreen to keep up the pretence that Admiral Darlan's visit to Paris was for the purpose of concluding economic negotiations, although these had already been concluded. "Britain is still bound by the declaration of July, 1940," the Telegraph goes on. "She could not allow Syria to be occupied by a hostile Power, or to he used as a base for attacks against other countries in the Middle East." It is believed that the implications of this declaration are now under discussion in London and Washington.

Fateful Decision An agcnev message sav.s that the derision will prove a fateful act. Details nf Hitler's terms are still unrevealed, hut some circles are of the opinion that thoy amount to co-operation with the Axis in a plan designed to keep the United States out of the war.

Questioned in the House of Commons regarding French Government policy, Mr. Eden answered: "The policy which has been adopted and declared by France is collaboration with Germany within certain limits which have not, so far as I am aware, been clearly defined. The agreement of May 5 with Germany provides, according to an official announcement issued at Vichy, for alleviation of restrictive measures regarding the line of demarcation between occupied and unoccupied France, and for reduction of costs of occupation from 500,000,000 to 300,000,000 francs a day. Increased Communications "The line of demarcation would, according to a communique, be open generally for the passage of goods between the two zones and also for persons in case of serious illness of near relatives. The despatch of plain postcards from one zone to the other will also be authorised under conditions which hitherto were applied to sailors only.

"No official announcement was made regarding what may have been conceded by France in return for these socalled concessions, but the agreement is described in Vichy as a new step along the path of collaboration. Noble French Traditions "Whatever concessions Admiral Darlan may have agreed to, I find it hard to believe," continued Mr. Eden, "that the French people, helpless though they may be to prevent systematic German spoliation of their resources, will be so false to their noble traditions as to work actively and of their own free will for the German cause, and thus prolong the period of their own sufferings and postpone the day of their own liberation." The Governor of French Equatorial Africa, General Delarminat, stated in a broadcast that Frenchmen there had not lost the will or the power to fight. General Weygand, ho added, knew how to resist dishonourable proposals. Mr. Eden said that no protest had been made against France's action in allowing German torpedo boats to pass down the Rhone to the Mediterranean. Berlin states that a. statement about Franco-German collaboration may be issued to-day. The general indication is that the Germans asked for a great' deal more than they were prepared to give in return.

AIR RAID ON CRETE LONDON, May 15 Enemy aircraft attacked Crete on .Monday, but no damage was caused.