THE SAAR CRISIS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1934, Page 6

THE SAAR CRISIS.

Current events indicate that the approach of the vital plebiscite on January 13 to decide the future control of the Saar is already causing grave unrest. Taken from Germany after the close of the Great War the Saar basin was handed over to the League of Nations, and has since then been administered by a Commission, the president of which is an Englishman, Mr. G. G. Knox. The territory is the bitter meeting ground between France and Germany, and with each nationality striving to secure a hold the task of the Commission has been an unenviable one. The Peace Treaty provided for a plebiscite on January 13, 1935, and laid it down that voting was to be by groups of communes, the League to apportion the territory accordingly after the voting has taken place. However the voting goes the prospect is dismal. An easy German win, says an article in the Contemporary Review, spells a vindication of Hitlerism and much victimisation of a more or less violent nature. And a German win is expected. The system of voting by groups of communes opens up the possibility of partition, which is fraught with difficulty. “Not a kilometre, not a millimetre, of German soil!” is the Nazis* cry. Even if Germany wins she has to buy back the famous Saar mines, whose value Nazis say the French have destroyed. And as the French apparently do not intend to give up the mines until the money is paid this may mean French soldiers guarding the Saar mines. “Indeed,” says the Contemporary Review,’ “something like a miracle will have been achieved when the Saar Basin no longer endangers the peace of Europe.”