13 OCTOBER 1923, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

ir ORD CURZON made a long and important statement to the Imperial Conference on Friday, October 5th. His review of the foreign situation occupied nearly three hours, and afterwards portions of the statement were issued for publication. These portions prove clearly enough that there are no grounds for optimism— that the divergence between France and this country is as wide as ever. It is impossible, of course, to reconcile Lord Curzon's repudiation of French policy with the common interpretation of the unfortunate communique which 'was published after the interview between Mr. Baldwin and M. Poineare. Yet the Morning Post announced, with due authority on Wednesday that the points of Lord Curzon's speech had been communicated in advance to Mr. Baldwin, who had approved of them. All the lamentable misunderstanding might easily have been ayoided if the Government had long ago put the world in possession of the plain facts which are that Mr. Baldwin has not changed his views one jot about the illegality and the folly of the French policy in the Ruhr.