POLISH ANNOUNCEMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1934, Page 5

POLISH ANNOUNCEMENT

PROTECTION OF MINORITIES $ BLOW TO LEAGUE AUTHORITY DEEP. SENSATION CAUSED DISCUSSION BY THE LEAGUE British Wireless. Rugby, Sept. 14. At the League of Nations Assembly meeting to-day the announcement made by M. Beck, Polish Foreign Minister, that Poland refuses any longer to cooperate with international organisations, which are taken to include the organs of the League of Nations, in the matter of supervision over the application by Poland of a system of minority protection was discussed. The declaration created a profound sensation in the Assembly where the general impression was that a denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles was taking place. The early speaker at to-day’s meeting was Sir John Simon, British Foreign Secretary, who said it was clear that it should not be possible for any State by unilateral action to relieve herself of her obligations. He put that on record as the view of the British Government. The gravity of the decision announced by M. Beck was emphasised by M. Barthou, French Foreign Minister, who in supporting Sir John Simon said he spoke as the representative of France, the friend and ally of Poland. He could not believe that M. Beck’s speech was intended as a threat or an attempt to impose a fait accompli on the League. Baron Aioisi (Italy) also supported the censure, and like M. Barthou admitted the . possibility of treaty revision, but adaptation,, he said, must be effected legally and existing engagements respected until replaced by a new provisional agreement. Poland’s action has provoked some comments in the newspapers. The Daily Herald, while agreeing that it is hard to justify a system of supervision in respect of only a small group of States, characterises the action as reprehensible in so far as it strikes a blow at the sanctity of treaties and the authority of the League. It urges that a serious attempt to make the protection of minorities universal might well be undertaken.

The Morning Post says that the arguments advanced by Poland to justify release from the treaty were not without some weight, but unilateral repudiation of a solemn covenant could not but arouse some misgiving.

The Daily Telegraph regards Poland’s action as only too typical of the impatient spirit of the times and believes that the world convention suggested would almost certainly disagree from the start. If it agreed on a uniform basis that basis would be more honoured in the breach than in the observance. A Geneva cable states that M. Beck declared that Poland maintained her attitude regarding minorities, and did not consider that the situation was changed by to-day’s debate.