NO ATMOSPHERE OF CONFIDENCE

Southland Times, Issue 23840, 10 June 1939, Page 7

NO ATMOSPHERE OF CONFIDENCE

ASSURANCES IGNORED BY GERMANY ALLEGATIONS DISMISSED BY MR CHAMBERLAIN RUGBY, June 8. In answer to a question in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) referred to allegations being made in Germany that Britain is planning destruction of German trade and all bases of German existence with a view to achieving the political and physical extinction of the German people. Such allegations he said continued to be made in spite of many positive declarations by himself and the Foreign Secretary (Lord Halifax) to the contrary. “In my speech in Albert Hall on May 12,” Mr Chamberlain said, “and in my speech during the debate in the House of Commons on May 19 I stated that any suggestions that we wished to isolate Germany or stand in the way of the natural and legitimate extension of her trade in Central and South-eastern Europe or to plan some combination against her with the idea of making war upon her were fantastic.. I made it clear that it was still our firm desire that our two peoples should never go to war with one another again and that we did not desire to enter into unbridled competition with Germany, either in armaments or ecoriomics. “On May 19 I said we would not refuse to discuss any methods by which reasonable aspirations on the part of other nations could be satisfied, even if this meant some adjustment of the existing state of things, but I insisted that such discussion could only take place in an atmosphere of mutual confidence.

“I can only repeat my regret that declarations, whether official or otherwise, should be made in Germany which do nothing to assist in creating such an atmosphere.