The Deputies Depute
The meetings of the Foreign Ministers' deputies have reproduced many of the familiar features of the long series of peace discussions, but they have also provided some which are unfamiliar. There is something refreshingly businesslike about the way in which the claims and views of the countries bordering on Germany and Austria are being lined up for discussion, and it is sincerely to be hoped that this speed of movement will be maintained. The claims vary enor- mously. There is everything from the modest Danish claim for reason- able treatment of the 15,000 Danes in South Schleswig to the Yugoslav demand for 1,000 square miles of Austrian territory, presented with the flamboyance and repetition of earlier grievances which are so characteristic of recent. Yugoslav utterances and so unpleasantly reminiscent of the ways of dictators. The claims occasionally conflict, but together they add up to a solemn and heavy price to be paid by Germany for the crime of aggression. Side by side with these new developments many of the old manoeuvres go on. Procedural questions regarding the treaty with Germany first came up on Friday of last week and their settlement seems likely to take up a great deal of time. Whether lengthy deliberation of these matters is worth while of course depends entirely on their effectiveness in expediting the work of the Foreign Ministers at a later stage. Another familiar phenomenon has been the insistence of Australia, backed subsequently by South Africa and Canada, on the right of the minor allies to be present at all stages of the German treaty. Here the well- known three to one division, with Russia in the minority, seems to be developing once more, but so far the surface has been unruffled except by the momentary splash caused by the American proposal for an international statute for Germany to operate until the peace treaty is concluded. However, this soon followed the other issues which have been adjourned for further consideration or handed to sub-committees. Its future progress will be interesting. There is much to be said for the interposition of a new stage between the present hand-to-mouth scramble in Germany and the final settlement.
