ARMED LEAGUE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 100, 6 April 1936, Page 6

ARMED LEAGUE.

French Counter-plan to German Proposals.

ORGANISED ON AIR BASIS. Press Association— Copyright. Paris, April 5. A French counter-plan to be considered by the Locarno Powers has been practically completed and will finally be approved by the Cabinet to-day, after which it will be handed to Britain, Italy and Belgium, also to the League of Nations, as an indication of the French determination to keep the proposals within the framework of the League. According to the Intransigeant the proposals are to return to the French plan of 1932 in the suggestion that the League should be provided with an effective modern mechanised army maintained on a war basis, which would be used m the event of violations of the Covenant. It is proposed that the big Powers should contribute three or four army corps and the smaller Powers one. The counter-proposals also recommend a new network of mutual assistance treaties and the limitation and reduction of armaments, but refuse the German proposal of bilateral pacts, stressing thr view that Herr Hitler's proposals tend towards the organisation of a pan-Ger-man plan eventually leading to war, while France's proposals ensure the League organisation as representative of indivisible peace. France has announced that her representatives at the staff talks, which will probably begin on April 6, will be General Schweissgutt, assistant chief of the French General Staff,, but General Gamelin, Chief of Staff, may attend if a more important aspect is reached. The delegation will also include naval and air force representatives.

Missed Chance,

The most interesting report presented'< io MM. Sarraut and Flandin when they met ambassadors from London, Berlin,' Brussels and Rome to secure their as-; sistance in drafting a reply to Germany, j says the Times, was M. Francois Poncet's' from Berlin. M. Poncet is understood lc have reinforced the opinion that! France missed ah opportunity when the ' Government rejected the possibility resistance to violation in the Rhineland. I M. Poncet disclosed that Germany was 1 in a condition of hesitation followed by J alarm at possible resistance to occupa-' tion of the Rhineland, and rather than • resolute action supported by an •indomit- I able will there was the greatest anxiety ; in Berlin. It is now believed ;by French .official r circles that Germany prepared orders', for evacuation which would have been 1 ' issued if France had acted immediately, t Thus Herr Hitler's garrtb.le, incited by r Nazi extremists, won only by the narrowest margin against the WUhemstrasse. ' ' '■ ■• ' Evidence is acc.umula.ting that the German plebiscite did not represent the i opinions of many .Germans, .says the Ber-1 hr. correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. The Brown Shirts excluded the supervisory committees ,at many polling stations during the counting of votes. Public inspection was allowed in ihe smaller 'towns, but spoiled papers, l often 30 or 40 per cent, of the total,. 1 I were counted as "ayes." The B ei 'lin correspondent of the Daily cites instances of terrorism, including Nazis abducting : ah elderly German officer vyhp refused to vote after wrecking his house. He has since not been heard of. I .Austria and Czechoslovakia are alarmed at the inclusion in the Reichstag of representing their countries. Contrasting with earlier moderation, the German Press has qomrnenced an a,t-. tack'oh'Britain, especially on Mr. Eden, suggesting that Mr. Lloyd George better represents British public opinion.