FOREIGN AFFAIRS REVIEWED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23287, 24 August 1945, Page 5

FOREIGN AFFAIRS REVIEWED

Rumanian Elections Mr Byrnes Interviewed (7.30 p.m.) NEW YORK. August-22. The Secretary of State (Mr James F. Byrnes) at a Press conference disclosed that Britain, America and Russia were considering the Rumanian request for aid in the formation of a more representative government. The first official reaction in Washington was that the proposal envisaged an early election. It was thought that Russia, following the policy regarding Greece, would decline the Rumanian request. Mr Byrnes announced that he had proposed that the London meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers should be deferred from September 1 to September 9. owing to the problems which arose from the end of the Japanese war. Two of the five other nations forming the council had agreed so far. Mr Byrnes considered that the Italian armistice terms should be revised, although this was a matter for the Foreign Ministers’ Council. He added that it would not be helpful to Italy to have the terms published as originally written. Asked if the Council would meet at a place cut off from the Press as at Potsdam, Mr Byrnes said that the Foreign Ministers would decide the policy. He pointed out that the Potsdam talks were held within the Russian occupation lines. He was sure that the conditions in London would be different. Mr Byrnes declared he argued at Potsdam for the freedom of the Press, which he believed would contribute more than anything else to a public understanding and acceptance of the Potsdam decisions. He added that Britain. Russia and the United States have no doubt that under the changed conditions in peacetime the Allied Press will have full freedom to report events. He pointed out that this was supported by the Russian concession to a party of Allied corresnondents who had been taken to Poland and allowed full freedom of movement and the uncensored transmission of news. President Truman told the assistant general manager of the American Press 'Mr Paul Miller) that he desired all Press representatives, irrespective of origin or nationality, to have equal access to news in Washington. He added that he hoped the same was true throughout the world and American newsmen would have equal access to their contemporaries in all countries.