DANZIG CRISIS.

Wairarapa Age, 8 July 1936, Page 5

DANZIG CRISIS.

Regarded As A Sinister Development. HERO’S WELCOME AWAITING I GREISER. POLAND INSISTS ON RESPECT FOR RIGHTS. FRENCH OPINION PESSIMISTIC LONDON, July 6. All Europe is watching Danzig. The outburst at Geneva of Herr Greiser, Nazi President of the Danzig Senate, is regarded as a sinister development and revives anxieties, especially in the present nervous state of European diplomacy. Herr Greiser himself is assured of a hero’s welcome when he returns to Danzig. The Nazi leader, Herr Forster, has prepared to head the welcoming party, and co-operation between Herr Greiser and the League High Commissioner in Danzig, Mr. Sean Lester, is now regarded as out of the question. Fortunately' the weekend passed off quietly. Herr Greiser’s speech was publicly broadcast amid scenes of indescribable enthusiasm among the Nazi crowds in the streets, but there were no clashes with nonNazis.

In Geneva significance 1b attached to a remark by Herr Greiser: “I ask for revision in the name of the whole of the German people.’’ If he is acting on Herr Hitler’s orders this may mean that the Fuhrer intends raising the Danzig question acutely. Colonel Beck, Polish Foreign Minister, had an interview with • Herr Greiser at Geneva before the latter’s departure for Danzig.’ It is learned that Colonel Beck emphasised that Mr. Lester could count on the full support of the League Council and of the Polish Government, which was prepared fully to assume its responsibilities under the Statute of Panzig. This can be revised only with the consent of Poland. Colonel Beck is understood to have declared that no other method was acceptable to Poland. This means that Poland will insist on full respect for her rights in Danzig. Colonel Beck received a formal assurance that nothing will happen to Mr. Lester upon his return.

Alluding to Mr. Lester, Herr Greiser said that his activities had created an unbearable situation. He had done nothing but mix in domestic and foreign politics. “I will see that this is ended ones and for all,” he said. ANXIETY IN BRITAIN. The “Sun-Herald’* news agency says that the seriousness af the Danzig situation can be gauged by the summoning of Cabinet this afternoon to hear Mr. Eden’s report. Delegates who have returned from Geneva say that never before have they known such anxiety, tension, nervousness, and suspicion in League circles. The belief Is growing that Germany does not want to co-operate with England and France. Mr. Eden’s feelings were pointedly expressed in the House of Commons when he told an interrogator that he was not prepared again to ask Germany to reply to the British memorandum. Paris diplomatic and Press opinion is most pessimistic, believing that Herr Greiser was deliberately seeking to create an incident by flouting the Council publicly. A member of the Council, after listening to Herr Greiser’s diatribe, described, it as the first fruits of the League's humiliation over Abyssinia, The ‘-Figaro'' cryptically says that Britain has disquieting information regarding the intentions of the Reich in Danzig. Herr Greiser, who flew to Berlin yesterday from Geneva, is staying there to-night and returns to Paris tomorrow, when Mr. Lester will also arrive from Geneva.

The Polish Government organ "Gazeta Polska” says that Poland cannot relinquish her claim on Danzig territory and requires her rights and Mr. Lester's to be respected. Poland and the League cannot participate in Danzig's internal party strife. An opposition journal maintains that Herr Greiser's attack was made under instructions from Berlin for the purpose of annexing Danzig and abolishing the League protectorate. If any change is to be effected Danzig should become a Polish port as was originally intended. (Continued on page 7.)