THE PEACE CONFERENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14022, 27 March 1919, Page 5

THE PEACE CONFERENCE

MANDATES FOR THE PACIFICBRITISH VIEW ACCEPTED BY MESSRS HUGHES AND MASSEY (United Press Association.) Received March 26, 5.5 p.m. PARIS, March 24. The, discussion concerning ’-he Pacific mandates continues. For reasons at present unexplained Mr Hughes and Mr Massey tiave accepted the British view that the Japanese must have simi1m mandates for the Caroline and Marshall Islands as Australia has south of the equator. The Japanese have been most insistent on the point, and the British agree that a refusal to comply would he invidious and unfair. Those mandates will forbid fortifications, hut permit a closed door regarding trade, immigration, and other policies. The weakness in the case is that a different mandate has been granted for Samoa, which is not contiguous to New Zealand, and is therefore to be judged on all fours with the Carol'nes. Mr Hughes is fighting for one point of difference. He wishes the clauses relating to the junction of islands with the mandatory countries, after a petition from the natives, to be eliminated from the Samoan and Japanese mandates, but retained in the New Guinea mandate on the ground that the extreme contiguity of the latter islands to Australia justifies this amount of difference in the mandates. COVENANT AMENDED. INTERNATIONAL POLICIES SAFEGUARDED. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) Received March 26, 5.5 p.m. : : PARIS, March 24. The United States delegation agreed to the League of Nations, providing that agreements under the covenant shall not be construed as an infringement of international policies which have been generally recognised hitherto. OCCUPATION OF DANTZIG. GERMAN THREATS OF RESISTANCE. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) Received March 26, 5.5 p.m. PARIS. March 23. Berlin newspapers declare that any attempt to land Polish forces from France at Daptzig will he forcibly resisted. Moreover, if Dantzig is violently occupied, the German delegates will not go to Versailles until the town is restored. GERMAN LEADERS CONFERRING. AS TO ADVISABILITY OF SIGNING. Received March 26, 11.40 n.m. NEW YORK. March 25. The New York Times’ Geneva correspondent states that von Hindenburg, General Luetwitz, Colonel Reinhardt, President Ebert, and Herr Scheidemann are conferring on the advisability of refusing to sign the preliminary peace terms. Herr Rantzau, the Foreign Minister, is quoted as saying: “It is a question whether we have not everything to pain and nothing to lose by passive resistance.”