June 14.
It may still be some time before the figures relating to the plebiscite in Czechoslovakia are collated in their final form, though it i certain that, from the information which has already been divulged regarding the polling fon Sunday, reasonably safe deductions can bbe drawn. "Nothing very important has.come out of the voting, and the various communities making up the Czechoslovakian nation are just about where they were before the crisis whicn. necessitated the which arose. The various minorities minorities and the settlement of the questions with regard to them must still remain the subject of the negotiations which are being too long drawn out, While that is generally true, there are certain developments revealed by the voting of which sight should mot be Jost. The German. minority did not consist solely of Sudeten Germans: there were various other parties, and the claim of Dr, Henlein to speak for the whole of them was not originally to be easily conceded, The plebiscite has brought into the fold of the Sudeten Germans a large number of the same nationality but of different political beliefs, so that, when Dr, Henlein now claims to be the spokesman of the German minority, the majority of support given him by that community undoubtedly justifies him. But'it that has happened with regard to the Sudeten Germans it is also claimed to have occurred with the Czechs and the Slovak People's Party. Dr. Milan Hodza, the Czech Premier, interprets the results of the plebiscite as an approval of his national unity programme, but Mur. Andre} Hlinka, leader of the Slovaks, saw also victory for his group, and approval of his party's demands for Stovak cultural autonomy. It would not be true to state that the plebiscite has done nothing, for it hi undoubtedly led to the strengthening of the Positions of the three leaders so far as the opinions of their own people are concerned: apart from that the future of Czechoslovakia will have to be settled by other means, and the greatest hope is that adjustment will be brought about by negotiation, Dr. Henlein's eight-point programme has! already been accepted in principle as a basis for negotiation between himself and the Czech government. If, despite the increase in the support given him by his own nationals, he consents to follow the moderate polley of putting forward at this juncture no new demands, it is possible that some scheme satisfactory to all parties to the dispute may be arrived at. There are, however, reports that he contemplates making further demands and it is suggested that he may require that armed occupation and intimidation of Sudeten areas shall cease, That intimidation, if it exists, should be stopped. Everyone who de-ires the peace of Europe will naturally expect though in the extended reports of what has been happening in Czechoslovakia, which
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.