20 AUGUST 1932, Page 2

Danzig and Memel It is well to record the conclusion

of a friendly agree- ment between Poland and the Free City of Danzig, ending a petty quarrel about the entry of Polish warships into the Danzig harbour and binding both parties to cease from boycotting or insulting one another. The dispute has been utilized to promote ill-will against Poland and might, if not stopped, have led to serious trouble. At the same time the Permanent Court at The Hague has given its decision on the difference between Lithuania and the little Territory of Memel which is autonomous under a Lithuanian Governor who has the sole right to deal with its foreign relations. The Court has decided that the Governor was right in dismissing Herr Bottcher, the President of the Memel Directory, because he had gone to Berlin and negotiated with the German Govern- ment. But the Governor was wrong in dissolving the Diet on the advice of Herr Bottcher's successor before the new President had received the approval of the Diet. The value of the Court is well illustrated by this finding, which disposes, only six months after the event, of a small but complex dispute.