Lifting Of Blockade Thought To Be Near; Britain Cautious

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 May 1949, Page 5

Lifting Of Blockade Thought To Be Near; Britain Cautious

LONDON, April 30 (Recd. 6pm).— German circles in close touch with the Soviet military administration say that Colonel Sergei Tulpanov, head of the Soviet Informat on Division, forecast the lifting of the Berlin blockade within the next three days, during a conference with the chief editors of Soviet licensed newspapers. Tulpanov is reported to have told editors that the cardinal problems connected with communications restrictions between Berlin and Western Germany had been resolved among the four Great Powers. Tulnanov added: “It is expected that the Foreign Ministers’ Council will be convened very shortly.” The “Daily Express” said caution is being expressed in London officia 1 quarters on Berlin reports that the blockade might soon be I fted. It is pointed out that while it may be difficult to achieve agreement in prin-

ciple, a g n od deal of work remains to be done before such agreement can be put into practice. Reuter’s Paris correspondent says that the French Foreign Office officials were confident today, after a trans-Atlantic telephone call from their United Nat ons representative, Mr. Jean Chauvel, that the lifting of the Berlin blockade was now only a matter of days. They said a FourPower meeting to follow the lifting of the blockade was likely to open in Paris on May 15. It is understood the French Government is participating in an active exchange of views with the British and American Governments about the possibility of bringing Eastern Germany into a German Federation o' States should the Russians prove willing to envisage this step at the forthcoming Four-Power meeting.