HOPES OF EARLY AGREEMENT

Southland Times, Issue 23827, 26 May 1939, Page 7

HOPES OF EARLY AGREEMENT

BRITAIN, FRANCE AND SOVIET JOINT ACTION IN EVENT OF AGGRESSION LONDON, May 24. An agreement among Britain, France and the Soviet seems in sight, says The Times. The Cabinet this morning passed a plan providing for immediate concerted action in the event of an attack against any of these Powers and for common action in the case of aggression against certain other European Powers. The whole plan will be worked out on a practical basis in the light of the British agreements with Poland, Turkey, Rumania and Greece. The scheme contains all the fundamental points on which Russia has insisted. In a statement in the House of Commons on the Anglo-Soviet negotiations the Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) said: “The House is aware that the Foreign Secretary (Viscount Halifax) was able to have conversations with French Ministers at Paris on his way to Geneva. He was also able .to continue at Geneva conversations which had been conducted with the Soviet Ambassador to London (M. Ivan Maisky). The result of these conversations is that all relevant points of view have now been made clear ana I have every reason to hope that as the result of the proposals which Britain is now in a position to make on the main questions arising it will be found possible to reach full agreement at an early date. There still remain some points to be cleared up but I do not expect that these will give rise to any serious difficulty.” Mr Chamberlain indicated that it would be unlikely that there would be any new development to report until after Whitsuntide but he said he hoped that after the House has reassembled on June 5 he would be able to give a complete account of the agreement which, he trusted, might by then have been reached.