GERMANS APPREHENSIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26792, 8 June 1948, Page 5

GERMANS APPREHENSIVE

LITTLE SUPPORT FOR SEPARATE STATE N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent LONDON, June 6. The special Dusseldorf correspondent of Jhe Manchester Guardian says the Germans are apprehensive about the reported decision of the Six-Power Conference in London, particularly the references to the proposal to set up an international authority to control the Ruhr. Few of them welcome the proposal to form a separate Western Gorman State, and it is plain that the establishment of such a State will be supported only with extreme reluctance and as an unpleasant necessity which must be regarded as strictly temporary in character. In some quarters there is a considerable mistrust of the assertions of the Western Allies that they will continue to try to come to terms with the Russians.

The Germans also see little prospect that they can agree with the Western Powers about control of the Ruhr. They claim that the policy of using only the raw material production of this area is a mistaken one, and that it could serve a much better purpose by being allowed to manufacture the goods Europe badly needs and for which it has established big markets in the past.