SAAR TERRITORY

Southland Times, Issue 22472, 7 November 1934, Page 7

SAAR TERRITORY

QUESTION IN COMMONS THE MAINTENANCE OF ORDER GERMAN ASSURANCE (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, November 5. Sir John Simon, replying to a question in the House of Commons with reference to the maintenance of order in the Saar territory, where a plebiscite is to be held on January 13, said the responsibility for maintaining order rested with the governing commission of the Saar and this responsibility continued to be successfully discharged. Any situation in which the Government of the Saar found itself unable to maintain order ought not to occur. There had never been any question of tne use of British troops. Any French ais positions in that part of France bordering on Saar territory on the west were purely precautionary, and there could be no question of the use of external force for preserving order unless the Saar governing commission was unable to discharge the task laid upon it and was compelled to ask for assistance. “The German Ambassador saw me at my request,” declared Sir John Simon “and confirmed that the German Government authorities had issued an order to the S.A. and S.S. formations on the German side of the Saar frontier prohibiting over a belt 25 miles wide and over a period which covers the date or the taking of the plebiscite the wearing of uniforms, parades, processions or gatherings of any kind. At the same time it issued a solemn assurance that there was no danger of invasion or the territory of the Saar. I expressed both to Herr von Hoesch ana the French Ambassador the satisfaction or his Majesty’s Government at the announcement. At the same time I received from the French Ambassador an assurance that the French arrangements are of a purely precautionary kind. In these circumstances we have a right to expect, -with due restraint in all quarters, that the plebiscite, which it is the duty of the Council of the League to conduct, will be, carried through properly and in order.”

Under Article 50 of the Treaty of Versailles the Saar Basin was ceded to France for 15 years. At the end of that time, namely, on January 13, 1935, the inhabitants are to decide by a plebiscite whether they will remain French, return to Germany, or become a self-governing community. The Nazis for some time past have been engaged in a propaganda campaign in the region concerned with the object of ensuring that the plebiscite will result in the return of the Saar to Germany. The representative of the British United Press at Saarbrucken, writing on October 14, said: This is a No Man’s Land—a battleground of conflict not less embittered because, it is waged with spiritual weapons, including all the forces of suggestion such as fear, malice and greed. Jakob Pirro, the German leader, is essentially a man of action, an organizer and orator. He claims 480,000 adherents, of whom 80,000 are German trades unionists. . “The latter have been largely influenced by Peter Kiefer,, who is a Roman Catholic, and admits that he threw in his lot with the German Front only after a long debate. He has now decided that unless the Saar returns to Germany on January 13 it will remain an open sore. “The trouble of the anti-German faction is that it lacks a single dynamic leader and an influential Press. While the anti-German policy is necessarily vague, it is not even known whether an anti-German vote in favour of maintaining the status quo will decide the issue for all time, or whether a fui ther vote later will do so. The most capable leader of the status quo policy is Herr Hoffman, editor of the Noue Saarpost. He believes that 30 per cent, of the voters will favour a return to Germany, 30 per cent, will favour the status quo, and 40 per cent, will still be undecided.” GERMAN PROTEST “DANGER DOES NOT EXIST.” (United Press Assn. —Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 7.15 p.m.) London, November 6. The Berlin correspondent of the Daily Mail says that an official communique protests against Sir John Simons statement because it implies that German orders are necessary to eliminate the danger of threatened disorders on the German side. “It must be emphatically repeated that such danger has never existed,” says the communique.