NEWS OF THE WEEK
Ihis statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, 1 the Prime Minister, as was expected, went no further than to say that Lord Halifax's visit had been valuable in advancing the desire for closer mutual understanding between Great Britain and Germany. And in answer to a question Mr. Eden was able to deny that any arrangements had been made for a visit to this country by Baron von Neurath, the German Foreign Secretary. But it is reassuring that a visit will be paid next week by M. Chautemps, the French Prime Minister, and M. Delbos, his Foreign Minister. For whatever the results of Lord Halifax's visit, it is essential that they should be communicated to the French Government, and shou d be the subject of as frank a discussion as Lord Halifax's with Herr Hitler. Those who hoped for positive and immediate results from the visit to Germany were pre- destined to disappointment. And, indeed, the most valuable consequence that could be expected is that the visit should make possible a new approach to Germany. Since Baron von Neurath's visit to this country was postponed last year, no such approach has been possible ; to restore to Anglo-German relations a fluidity in which a new understanding is at least possible is the greatest service Lord Halifax could have rendered.
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