STRONG ACTION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18961, 11 March 1936, Page 5

STRONG ACTION

FRENCH DEMANDS

LOCARNO POWERS MEET

PROPOSALS ADVANCED

WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS

SANCTIONS ALTERNATIVE

(Elen Tel. Copyright— United Press Assn.) (Reed. March 11, noon.) PARTS, March 10.

The conferenc in Paris of signatories of the Locarno Treaty is being conducted with the strictest secrecy.

It is understood that the French representatives are taking the firmest line.

The British Ambassador, Sir George Clerk, left the conference room to telephone London, presumably for further instructions.

The’ conference opened at 10.30 a.m. in • the famous Clock Room of the French Foreign Office around the horseshoe table. Amongst the early arrivals wfts the British Foreign Secreary, Air Anthony Eden, severe and tight-lipped, .by contract with the smiling Lord Halifax, also the British Ambassador and Foreign Office experts.

Hundreds gathered outside the Quai d’Orsay to watch the delegates arrive, but an army of attendants prevented strangers from approaching the conference room, and its red carpeted corridors were kept free for the delegates. RELATIONS IMPAIRED AL Flandin opened the conference. He briefly sketched the events of the week-end, stressing not only that they had impaired Franco-German relations, but they concerned the future of the Locarno and all other treaties whereon world peace depended. He demanded:

Firstly, that the Locarno Powers send the strongest demand to Germany to withdraw her troops from the Rhineland.

Secondly, that they refuse to negotiate with Germany so long as German troops remain in the demilitarised zone.

Thirdly, if troops are withdrawn, negotiations can be started under Article 8 of the Locarno Treaty, providing that the League Council can terminate the treaty with the consent of the signatories.

Fourthly, if Germany refuses to withdraw her troops the Locarno Powers ask that sanctions be employed, the first of which would be to recall their ambassadors from Berlin.

LEAGUE MEETING AWAITED The conference broke up at 1.3 p.m., and no decision had been reached. There will be another meeting either to-night or at Geneva to-morrow. A communique declares that M. Flandin welcomed the delegates and observed that the object of the meeting was the exchange of information to delino the situation. No resolution will be submitted, and no decision will be taken before the meeting of the League Council, and the delegates explained their viewpoints with the procedure thus defined.

The. impression is general, after the conference, that the French Government is not budging from its firm stand, in which it is supported by the whole nation. It feels that the time has come to stop German aggression, and points out the inconsistency of Mr. Eden’s logic, inasmuch as while declaring that Germany’s action had profoundly shaken confidence in Germany’s word, he yet. indicated that Britain was prepared to negotiate.

SHOULD KEEP CLEAR

ADVICE TO AMERICANS

OPINION OP SENATOR

NEW YORK, March 10.

The financial editor of the New York Times states that anxiety over the warlike course of events in Europe shook the financial markets to-day. Foreign currencies fluctuated violently, first falling and then recovering. Stocks after moving uneasily most of the day fell under a sharp burst of selling over the last hour that knocked representative issues as much as four points downward. There was, however, no disposition to look for the wholesale withdrawal of foreign money from this market. The opinion of most bankers was that the first effects of the increased war talk would bo more likely to send additional foreign money here; yet Germany’s action has been sudden, and it was disturbing that comment from the nation’s capital continued meagre.

Senator Lewis, however, made a curious though interesting statement. He declared in the Senate to-day that Ilerr Hitler would never have dared to move troops into the Rhineland had not Britain and France alienated the goodwill of the United States by refusing to pay their war debts. Default of war debts, he said, had made the American people no longer concerned with the enforcement of the Versailles Treaty.

“It is now the duty of this Government to keep its hands off, and refuse all advances to signatories to the treaty seeking military or monetary aid,” he said.