24 JANUARY 1936, Page 2

Danzig and the League Reporting to the League Council on

Wednesday, Mr. Eden did not conceal the gravity of the situation in the Free. City of Danzig. The situation is, indeed, not only grave but complicated, and it contains three distinct elements of danger. The first, perhaps the most serious, is the threat to the authority of the League, under whose jurisdiction Danzig was • placed by the Treaty of Versailles. The Danzig Senate, which in September agreed to reverse certain unconstitutional measures, has failed to fulfil its undertaking and ignored the authority of the League's High Commissioner, Mr. Sean Lester. Having failed to secure a majority large enough to revise the constitution, the National Socialists have behaved as if the constitution. did not exist. Thus a second danger exists in the violence done to the rights and liberties of the non-Nazi minority in Danzig, which numbers over 40 per cent. of its citizens. But, thirdly, this conflict is transformed into a conflict with Germany because of the support, in money; material and propa- ganda, which the Danzig Nazis receive from Germany through Herr Forster, a German citizen, who is the agent of the party in Danzig. Thus, the struggle depends on whether the writ of Germany or of the League should run in Danzig. It is essential the League should support resolutely any action which will establish its Commissioner's authority. * * * *