MEMEL SURRENDERED

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14090, 23 March 1939, Page 5

MEMEL SURRENDERED

HANDED TO GERMANY ACTION OF LITHUANIAN GOVERNMENT. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, March 22. It is officially announced in a message from Kaunas that the Lithuanian Government has surrendered Memel to Germany. The Lithuanian Pari.ament will meet to-day to ratify the decision. A German-Lithuaniau committee is settling the conditions under which Lithuania will use the, Memel port.

Cabinet declared the decision was reached in the interests of peace, adding that Lithuania will not make further concessions. The decision will be confirmed by Parliament, because Germany demanded that the. action be in accordance with legal procedure.

It is reported German troops have begun co 'occupy Memel.

A communique slates that Herr von Rihbentrop, in the name of Germany, told M. Urbzys, Lithuanian Foreign Minister, that Germany demanded the incorporation of Memel in the Reich, adding that, if the annexation was peaceable, Germany would give generous consideration to Lithuanian economic interests.

A Warsaw message says it is reported that Herr von Rihbentrop, German Foreign Minister, handed an ultimatum to M Urbzys, Lithuanian. Foreign Minister, demanding that Memel should be a free city from now on, and the withdrawal of Lithuanian troops, police an<j frontier guards. The ultimatum threatened German occupation not only of Memel but of Lithuania unless the demands were met. It is understood the German Note to Lithuania declared the present situation in Memel might lead to unrest, necessitating the intervention of German troops, says Reuter’s Kaunas correspondent. Life between Germans and nonGermans in< Memel had become impossible. The Note added that it gave the principle of self-determination as the basis of the German demands. EFFORT FOR COMMON FRONT. BRITAIN. FRANCE. RUSSIA, POLAND. LONDON. March 22. The Times says Britain asked France, Poland ana Russia to consider the desirability of a joint statement declaring a common view against acts of aggression and expressing a desire not only to continue consultations now, but to consult immediately in the interests of mutual defence if further aggression is believed imminent. The form of consultation has not yet been decided. Russia suggested an immediate six-Power Conference in Bucharest, which the Tass News Agency from Moscow reports Britain turned down as premature, but it was indicated to Russia that Britain would consider the proposal carefully. Reuter says Cabinet is actively preparing a declaration of British policy, wh ch will be the subject of diplomatic exchanges among the Governments of Eastern and South-eastern Europe.