OBLIGATIONS OF BRITAIN

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20589, 29 August 1938, Page 7

OBLIGATIONS OF BRITAIN

IN THE EVENT OF WAR ANGLO-FRENCH INTERESTS INTERWOVEN DETERMINATION TO UPHOLD IDEALS OF DEMOCRACY (Official Wireless) (Received August 29, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Aug. 28 Sir John Simon’s speech at Lanark on foreign affairs has attracted widespread attention, and his re-statement of Britain's attitude is welcomed by the press. The salient passages of Mr Neville Chamberlain’s statement on March 24 are reproduced. Mr Chamberlain said he could give no guarantee to go automatically to the assistance of Czechoslovakia should she be attacked, or pledge Britain to give full military aid to France should she fulfil her obligation under the France-Czechoslovakia treaty. He added: “But while stating this decision I would add this—where peace and war are concerned legal obligations are not alone involved, and if war broke out it would be unlikely to be confined to those who have assumed such obligations. It would be quite impossible to say where it might end and what Governments might be involved. “The inexorable pressure of facts might well prove more powerful than formal pronouncements, and in that event it might well be within the bounds of probability that other countries besides those which were parties to the original dispute would almost immediately be involved. That is especially true of two countries like Britain and France, with long associations of friendship, with interests closely interwoven, devoted to the same ideals of democratic liberty and determined to uphold them.” Mr Chamberlain intends to hold a meeting of available Ministers on Tuesday. Sir N. Henderson has been recalled from Berlin to London for the consultations.