Britain And Dominions Confer on Italy

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 250, 3 August 1946, Page 5

Britain And Dominions Confer on Italy

Representatives of Britain and the Dominions met privately and informally exchanged views on the economic clauses of the Italian treaty. The discussions took the form of a general pooling of ideas. The meeting will be continued to-morrow. > South Africa is anxious that Italy should quickly regain her place in world economy and trade, and would like to see the ‘harsh restrictions eased, as an economically handicapped Italy must unfavourably affect South Africa’s Mediterranean trade. A plan is being developed in the lobbies of the Paris Conference to combine the work of the conference with what was to have been a future .separate stage of the peace-making, says Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent. The aim is to persuade the big four to work simultaneously with the conference so that they will be ready

to approve and sign the final drafts of the five treaties while the representatives of the enemy states are still in Paris, where they have come to present their views toithe conference. Two proposals appear to he taking shape. Firstly, that any member State of the Conference should have direct access to the Council of Foreign Ministers during the conference, secondly, that the Big Four should meet periodically to consider their attitude to proposals as they emerge from the conference. The Canadian delegation is credited with initiating these proposals.' It is officially announced from Rome that Admiral Rafaele de Courten, Chief of the Naval Staff, who resigned yesterday as a protest against the order to assist the Government to naval clauses of the peace treaty later consented to continue in his post in better the treaty and its naval clauses.