LONDON PRESS COMMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 272, 17 November 1943, Page 5

LONDON PRESS COMMENT

(Special Australian Correspondent—N.Z.P. A., Recd. 6 p.m. London, Nov. 15. “Greater calm seems to prevail in Lebanon.” says The Tinies’ diplomatic correspondent. “This should ease the task for General Catroux, the farsighted, patient negotiator who, in 1 1941. in the name of General de Gaulle, promised the Lebanese and their neighbours, the Syrians, their independence. “The air has been cleared by plain speaking by the British Government and some explanations by the French Committee. It has been established that M. Helleu took the final steps and arrested the Lebanese leaders without reference to the Committee. The hard kernel of the dispute between the French authorities and the Lebanese leaders is that the Committee, as trustee for France still enslaved, says it cannot abolish one ol France’s mandates. The Allies complain that they were not consulted in a problem in which they are concerned for every reason of military security.” The Observer says, in a leader, that the President, the Prime Minister, and the Government of Lebanon, were freely and legally constituted, and blames General de Gaulle for a highhanded act. It suggests that a White Paper should be published at once giving the full story of ‘ our relations with General de Gaulle, and not limited to the present crisis.” The diplomatic correspondent of the Observer says: “Britain’s response to the, crisis is being closely watched by the Arab peoples. It will be taken as an indication of the manner in which Britain intends to treat its commitments and responsibilities throughout the Arab world.” The diplomatic correspondent of the Manchester Guardian comments that the French seem to be inclined to regard the Lebanon affair as a .test case provoked by forces beyond as well as inside the territory which are working for national and international reorganisation of the Arab world.