Saar Plebiscite

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19407, 6 November 1934, Page 8

Saar Plebiscite

FRICTION IMPROBABLE.

FRANCO-GERMAN ASSURANCES.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

(Official Wireless.) (Received Nov. 6; 2..30 p.m.)

RUGBY, Nov. 5

Sir John Simon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, replying to a question in the House of Commons with reference to the maintenance of order in the Saar territory where the plebiscite is to be held on January 13, said the responsibility for maintaining order rests with the Government Commission of the Saar, and this responsibility continues to be successfully discharged. A situation in which the Government "of the Saar found itself unable to maintain. order ought not to occur. There never had been any question of the use of British troops. Any French dispositions in the part of France bordering on the Saar territory on the west weie purely precautionary, and theie can be no question of the use of an external force for preserving order unless the Saar Governing Commission is unable to discharge the task laid upon it and is compelled to ask for assistance. Sir John continued: The German Ambassador saw me at my request and confirmed that the German Government authorities had issued an. order to certain formations on the German side of the Saar frontier prohibiting over a belt 25 miles wide and over the period which covers the date of taking the plebiscite, the wearing of uniforms, parades, processions, or gatherings of any kind, and at the same time it issued a solemn assurance that there was no danger of invasion on the territory of the Saar. “ I expressed both to Herr von Hoe-sch and the French Ambassador the satisfaction of His Majesty’s Government at this announcement. “At the same time I received from the French Ambassador an assurance that the Frenoh arrangements are of & purely precautionary kind. “In these circumstances we have 'the right to expect, with due restraint in all quarter's, that the plebiscite, which It is the duty of the Council of the League to conduct, will be carried through properly and in order.”