SOVIET FIRM ON SPAIN

Southland Times, Issue 23342, 28 October 1937, Page 5

SOVIET FIRM ON SPAIN

Suggested Exclusion From Committee REFUSAL TO GRANT WAR RIGHTS SUBSTANTIAL EXODUS OF FOREIGNERS DESIRED (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received October 27, 8.25 p.m.) LONDON, October 26. A move is afoot to oust Russia from the Non-Intervention Committee if she persists in refusing to recognize belligerency until all foreigners have been withdrawn from Spain, says the diplomatic correspondent of the News Chronicle. Another sub-committee may be formed from which the Soviet will be excluded. Russia, for her part, has such a poor opinion of non-inter-vention that she would not be sorry to withdraw from the committee and regain freedom of action. At a meeting of the Non-Intervention Committee today the Russian delegate (M. Ivan Maisky) began his speech by reaffirming that belligerent rights would be granted only after the complete withdrawal of foreign aid, but later he said that if the Soviet was convinced that the bulk of foreigners was withdrawn, that reinforcements had ceased to arrive and that it was the sincere desire of the respective governments to stop all interference in Spanish affairs, the Soviet might consider the question of granting belligerent rights, but reserved the right to judge the moment of such consideration.

M. Maisky protested against suggestions made by Italy and others that the Soviet was attempting to sabotage non-intervention. “If we have to find a culprit for the present impasse and the possible breakdown in non-intervention, it is not tHe Soviet, but Italy and Germany.” he declared. Italy expects a complete deadlock in non-intervention, says a message from Rome. She will not agree to any plan to which Russia does not adhere, arguing that it would be torpedoed by Russia. . COMMITTEE’S PROGRESS A British Official Wireless message states that substantial progress towards agreed action to make non-intervention effective resulted from a session of the Chairman’s Sub-Committee today. The British Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) presided. Consideration was resumed of the draft resolution in the light of the comments of the governments to which the text was submitted. At the end of the discussion all the members were agreed on the terms of the resolution except the Russian mem-’ ber, who was unable to concur in the paragraphs dealing with the grant of belligerent rights. In these circumstances the sub-com-mittee is again submitting the amended text, on which all but unanimous agreement has been reached, to the governments, whose final observations will, it is hoped, be received before the meeting on Friday. It is understood that the sub-com-mittee has dropped the proposal for a token withdrawal of volunteers. The chairman suggested that the committee was now clearly at grips with the main proposal for a full-scale withdrawal, and it would be a pity to be diverted by a minor question on the details of which agreement was not assured. The members, after some discussion, concurred. Other developments today were a clarification of the Italian attitude to the status of the commission’s reports on the numbers of volunteers, and some modification of a tentative character by the Russian representative of his attitude to the time of the grant of belligerent rights and the withdrawal .of volunteers.

Count Dino Grandi (Italy) said that if the commission were constituted in such a way and the terms of reference were such as ensured confidence, then the figures on a basis of which the proportions of withdrawal from either side would be determined could be accepted. It can now be stated that the sub-committee is unanimously agreed that the figures established by the commissions shall be accepted as final and binding. M. Maisky was questioned closely by Mr Eden on his reiteration of the Russian refusal to grant belligerent rights to any point in ’advance of the completion of the withdrawal of volunteers. It will be recalled that the British plan, on which the committee is now working, provided for the grant when substantial progress had been made with the withdrawal. BRITAIN’S RIGOROUS NEUTRALITY FREEDOM OF HIGH SEAS ALL-IMPORTANT (Received October 28, 12.25 a.m.) LONDON, October 27. The First Lord of the Admiralty .(Major A. Duff Cooper), replying in the House of Commons to criticism of Britain’s attitude to Spam, declined to accept the suggestion that the war was carried on with greater barbarity by one side than by the other. “The Government’s policy is that what goes on in Spain is not our concern, but we will keep the high seas free for British commerce,” said Major Duff Cooper. “The question arises where to draw the line of non-inter-vention in Spain. We have drawn it at the three-mile limit. “We have been told of refugees drowning in territorial waters within reach of his Majesty’s ships, who have not rescued them. It is not pleasant to think of neutrals watching their sufferings and refusing to intervene, but it is part of a great policy, and a sound policy, that they should not intervene.”