NEWS OF THE WEEK
BY contrast with the'alarms of a fortnight ago the situation in Czechoslovakia may justly be described as:tranquil. On the nature of the alarms, and the lessons to be drawn in that connexion on the efficacy of international action, an article from a Czech source on page low of this issue throws considerable light. Germany still protests that no military measures were ever contemplated, but accumulating evidence makes it difficult to accept that declaration. The communal elections of last Sunday in Czechoslovakia were carried out, as on the previous Sunday, in complete order. In the German areas the Henlein Party appears to have secured about 90 per cent. of the votes. The final series of elections take place on June 12th, and it may be hoped that after that the Czechoslovak Government will find it possible to demo- bilise the class of reservists which it called to the colours after the Sudeten Germans had demanded adequate measures for the preservation of order. Meanwhile contacts between the Prime Minister, Herr Hodza, and the Sudeten German leders is being maintained, but Herr Henlein has not yet submitted his claims in writing. An agreement on the basis of the fullest local autonomy is by no means to be despaired of. Herr Henlein is, as far as is known, making no demand for actual transference of the Sudeten region to the Reich, a step which apart from other objections would involve putting some hundreds of thousands of Czechs, as well as a large number of anti-Nazi Germans, under German rule.
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