THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, November 20, 1939. ANGLO-FRENCH CO-OPERATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23970, 20 November 1939, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, November 20, 1939. ANGLO-FRENCH CO-OPERATION

The Supreme War Council of the Allies has demonstrated that it is concerned to ensure the most effective and purposeful Anglo-French co-operation in the economic as well as in the military sphere. One of the lessons brought home • in the previous war is being put into application, it is now revealed, as a sequel to steps initiated at the outbreak of the present conflict to ensure co-ordination in the fullest possible manner of the economic war effort of the two countries. The pooling arrangement between Great Britain and Fi'ance, the announcement of which has followed a meeting of the Supreme War Council in London last week, is of great importance. It means that measures already put into effect are being so strengthened and completed that all phases of war activities are covered. Air, munitions, raw materials, food, shipping, and economic warfare generally come all within a plan of mutual co-operation which is de-

signed to secure that any deficiencies in the resources of the one Power will, as far as possible, be made good by the other. There was no measure of co-operation between the two nations in the struggle of 191418 at all comparable with that which is envisaged under the agreement which has now been reached. “ The new measures adopted by the two Governments,” it is officially observed, “ will provide for the best use in the common interest of the resources of both countries in raw materials, means of production, tonnage, and so on. They will also provide for an equal distribution between them of any limitations, should circumstances render necessary the reduction of programmes of imports.” Part of the plan is the avoidance of competition in purchases made abroad for the meeting of the respective import requirements of the two countries. A deep cause for satisfaction lies in the further evidence thus supplied that the Allies are entered upon this war on terms, as between themselves, that are highly advantageous, and should contribute valuably to their ultimate success. An interesting comment by the London Times relates to the importance of the pooling agreement in ensuring pi’otection of the currencies of the two countries by the placing of the joint national resources behind them. Emphatic appreciation of the value of the agreement has not been confined to the Anglo-French press, but has been expressed in the United States also. The New York Times has suggested the possibility of the extension of the arrangement to post-war times. Whether that would be practicable may be doubtful. The circumstances of war are, of course, exceptional, and operate exceptionally in the demands which they make, and in the weight of the arguments which they introduce for their fulfilment. At least the announcement of the Anglo-French pooling agreement may be read in conjunction with Sir Edward Grigg’s statement that, once the spirit of Hitlerism is destroyed, the economic welfare of all countries must be the post-war aim of the victors. And meanwhile the evidence of the close economic co-operation of Britain and France provides its contrast with reports of internal dissensions in the ruling party in Germany.