NEWS OF THE WEEK
MR. EDEN, as we write, has still to deliver his state- ment in the House of Commons on the negotiations between the Locarno Powers. The document addressed by them to Germany was not happily conceived, and a reply Which constitutes neither acceptance nor rejection is as much as could be hoped for. When Herr Hitler's detailed answer arrives on Tuesday the situation will be clarified. The Foreign Secretary, it may be hoped, will have succeeded in allaying the fears of France, where this country's attempt at constructive mediation is being interpreted simply as vacillation. Herr Hitler said on Wednesday at Ludwigshafen a little unfortunately that " what he had in mind was the permanent settlement of relations between the European peoples in the same manner as he had established order within his own country," but there is no real ground for reading a sinister meaning into the words. Meanwhile attention should be drawn to an important answer given by Mr. Eden to a question in the House of Commons on Wednesday. He had, he said, re- ceived the most explicit assurances from the Czechoslovak Government that the rumours of an agreement providing for the use by Russian military machines of aerodromes in Czechoslovakia were completely baseless. This alle- gation has been one of the main grounds of Germany's ascription of hostile intentions to Russia. Its refutation deserves wide publicity.
