PEACE TREATIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26042, 4 January 1946, Page 5

PEACE TREATIES

THE FRENCH ATTITUDE KEEN DISAPPOINTMENT BIGGER ROLE EXPECTED (Rec. 11 p.m.) PARIS, Jan. 3. The text of the French Government’s reply to the decisions of the Moscow Conference was approved at a six-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday, says the correspondent of The Times. France neither accepts nor rejects the decisions communicated by the American Secretary of State, Mr James Byrnes, but seeks more precise information about how the peace treaties are to be concluded and the extent of the powers of the Peace Assembly, which, as Britain, America, and Russia suggested, should meet in Paris next May. The French Government has received three Notes from Mr Byrnes:— 1. Giving the general results of the conference, and inquiring whether France would agree to the Peace Assembly being held in Paris. 2. Detailing the measures for controlling the use of atomic energy. 3. Outlining the settlement reached on the Far Eastern question. The French reply was based on the first Note, and the correspondent of The Times says that General de Gaulle and a majority of the Cabinet felt unable to take a more positive attitude until more information was available about the three Foreign Ministers’ ideals and aims. The correspondent' adds that General de Gaulle undoubtedly cast his Government for a far more responsible role in the peace settlement than the three Foreign Ministers accorded it. He especially wants to know what opportunities France would have for stating a case for the internationalisation of the Ruhr, and also what is to be the function of the Peace Assembly. Is it to be limited merely to taking cognisance of decisions in which a majority of the participants, including France, had no part? If so, there would be little point in accepting the proposal that the assembly should meet in Paris. The correspondent adds that the French Government has been moved by General de Gaulle’s determination to salve the national dignity on an issue they regard as little less than humiliating. In so doing, it. is argued, they rendered a service to the smaller nations who felt they had some claim to participate in one or another of the peace treaties. The French Government undoubtedly feels the need for an assurance that the three Powers will not yield to the temptation to agree among themselves at the expense of others.