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Danzig-Polish Post Office Dispute 1925

on January  11^th, l922, of the Warsaw Agreement of October 24^th, 1921, for the provisional agreement of April 22^nd, 1920.

On December 1^st, 1924, the President of  the Senate of the Free City sent to the Polish Commissioner-General in Danzig a fresh note dealing with, inter alia Article 168 of the Warsaw Agreement.

This note stated that. the Free City was informed that Poland intended to set its postal service in operation and to extend the activities of that service beyond the sphere-to which, according to the opinion of Danzig, it was to be restricted. The Free City therefore asked to be informed whether Poland’s intention was to establish a fait accompli, without previously having recourse to the arbitration procedure provided for in the treaties. Danzig claimed that its point of view regarding the restriction of the Polish service was supported amongst other things by a certain passage taken from the statement of reasons given by the High Commissioner in his decision of December 23, 1922, and by the High Commissioner’s letter of January 6, 1923. Lastly, in his note of December 1, 1924, the President of the Senate stated the opinion of the Free City regarding the nature of Art. 168 of the Warsaw Agreement; Danzig took the View that it was not a question of a series of agreements already, in principle, concluded, and only the precise terms of which remained to be drafted, but rather of a list of points not falling within the framework of reciprocal rights recognized by the Treaties, and in regard to which. the parties were free to contract obligations or not, at their discretion. Danzig for her part was prepared either to open negotiations in regard to the general principle underlying the article or to accept an arbitral decision on that question.

The Polish Commissioner General’s reply was dated January 3^rd, 1925. It was to the effect that Poland, having now been enabled to occupy the building on the Heveliasplatz, intended to put its postal service in operation and that this service would include letter boxes and postmen. The sphere of action of this service would be the “port of Danzig” in the territorial sense of that expression, which would be regarded for the present purpose as bounded by the red line mentioned by the High Commissioner in his decision of August 15, 1921. As regards the decision of December 23, 1922, Poland considered it as. non-existent, having

Danzig-Polish Post Office Dispute, Seite 14.