EUROPEAN PEACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22505, 25 February 1935, Page 9

EUROPEAN PEACE

THE LONDON PROPOSALS BREAKING THE DEADLOCK (British Official Wireless.) (United Press (By Electric Telegraph—Copyr'ght.) RUGBY, February 22. (Received Feb. 24, at 5.5 p.m.) Although it can with authority be stated that no official decision has yet been taken on the subject, the British newspapers give prominence to the suggestion that a British Minister, for preference Sir John Simon, should not only visit Berlin, but also Moscow and perhaps other European capitals, with the object of carrying forward by personal discussions the broad proposals for European appeasement as outlined in the Anglo-French communique of February 3. The idea, which • first found expression in The Times and the Daily Telegraph, is generally welcomed by newspapers of all shades of opinion. The Daily Herald believes that Sir John Simon will go to Berlin to talk over the whole proposals for a general settlement, as outlined in the communique. It says the suggestion that Herr Hitler and his advisers would want to limit the conversations to the single' topic of the Western Air Locarno Pact is unfounded. It is taken for granted in Berlin, says the Herald, that, if a Foreign Minister visits another capital, he does so to discuss all questions of mutual interest. Security in the East is as, essential as security in the West to general appeasement, and, as the deadlock cannot be broken in Berlin alone, the Russian visit would become the logical corollary to the German visit.. The Herald considers that the need for some such mediating move is urgent, and in its editorial declares that the British. Minister, talking frankly with the Germans, the Russians and the Poles, and trying single mindedly to bring about an agreement between them, should be able very materially to help to solve a problem the solution of which is imperative. . The News-Chronicle says the suggestion that Sir John Simon might visit Moscow is only a suggestion, but it seems a very good one. The prime object of the Berlin visit would be to discover what Germany's policy really is jOn those' aspects of international policy which her reply to France and the British overtures leaves untouched. If she wi»l not sjgn the Eastern Pact what security,does she suggest for the maintenance of peace on her Eastern frontiers? Herr Hitler, who has shown some" realism in his foreign policy, must almost certainly have some proposals to make for stabilising the situation in Eastern Europe. They might not be unacceptable to Russia, and Great Britain might play a very useful part as an honest broker in a possibly rather delicate negotiation. . Meanwhile, the News-Chronicle describes the recent Soviet press outcry against Germany as a disservice to peace, and hopes it will be checked. . The Times to-day recalls, in regard to pacts to ensure mutual assistance in Eastern Europe, that much of the ground seems to be already covered by the pacts of non-aggression between Germany and Poland 'on the one hand, and between Poland and the Soviet, on the other hand, as well as by the subsidiary treaties of Locarno. •