EARLIER MEETING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24759, 6 December 1943, Page 3

EARLIER MEETING

WIDESPREAD APPROVAL WELCOMED IN INDIA CRecd. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4 The first news of the talks in North Africa to be published in the Moscow press appeared on Friday. The communique issued after the conference was published without comment. The Allied Commander-in-Chief in South-east Asia, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, has returned to New Delhi from the conference. He immediately held a conference at his headquarters. The meeting of the Allied leaders in North Africa has had a better press in India than any earlier conference, says a correspondent in New Delhi. This is only partly due to the presence of Marshal Chiang 4 Kai-shek. The conference is thought in India to be chiefly important as the ending of Japanese hopes of a compromise peace. The announcement that Japan is to be stripped of her stolen gains is specially welcomed in India. It is felt there that both Britain and the United States mean business and will really take the war inside Japan itself. One paper describes the talks as a just and necessary part of a stable peace. The Times says reports from all parts of the world show widespread approval of the decisions of the conference. NewZealand and Australia could not tolerate a peace which left the Pacific Isles, or a single Dutch East Indian possession, in the hands of a power which has shown such unscrupulous methods following its attack on Pearl Harbour. TURKEY EXPECTANT OBLIGATIONS TO BRITAIN LONDON. Dec. 4 Consultations among the heads of the Governments of the four principal Allied Powers, representing the will and power of over a thousand million people, are keeping Turkish opinion, in the same way as that of the entire world, in a state of expectation, says the Ankara correspondent of the Times. The Ankara newspaper Ulussavs the conference at Teheran constituted a blow to Axis hopes of securing a compromise' peace and making the Allies Full out among themselves. Turkish comment can be summarised us follows: "The mere fact that these meet inns are occurring is evidence that iho previous meeting of the Foreign Ministers in Moscow was a success and paved the way for the present deliberations. The important and _ far-reaching effects of the meetings will he worldwide, and probably felt for many years after the war. Decisions taken at the meetings will affect not only the belligerents, but probably also neutrals." It is this last .thought which induces the Turkish people to believe that the "Turkish case" will he discussed. The Turkish Government, after the meeting between the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Eden, and the Turkish Foreign Minister, M. Menemencioglu. at Cairo examined exhaustively the situation and communicated to the British Government its viewpoint on the question of the time and manner in which Turkey might eventually carry out her obligations arising from her Treaty of Alliance with Britain. It is expected this Turkish reply will be perused by the "Big Three" and that the Turkish Government may soon receive a communication on the reaction that the Turkish reply has produced among the Allied Powers. PERSIA AND ALLIES SCENE OF LATEST TALKS One of the latest States to join the Allies in the fight against Nazi Germany, Persia has co-operated passively to this end with Britain and Russia since August. 1911. Toward the end of that month British and Soviet troops entered the country after Notes hnd been handed to the Persian .Minister in Moscow, The action was taken to prevent a coup d'etat by German agents in the country, who had been arranging armed forces with the_ object of seizing control of the oil regions in the south British forces met organised opposition from Persian troops in the first few days of the occupation, but the Russians entered from the north unhindered. The fighting commence,d on August 2"> and the order fire was given three days later, following the formation of a new Cabinet. Undertakings to respect the territorial integrity and political independence of Persia were given by Russia and Britain in the sinning of a BritishSoviet and Persian Treaty of Alliance in January, 1942. In return for a promise by the major Powers to defend Persia against any aggressor, the Persian Government guaranteed to secure for the Allies the passage of troops and unrestricted rights over all means of communication throughout the country. Persia entered the war on September 9 of this year. BRITISH DESTROYER LOST (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Doc. 4 The Admiralty has announced that the destroyer Hurworth has been lost.