WITH THE FASCISTI.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 300, 19 December 1922, Page 8

WITH THE FASCISTI.

AST AUCKLAXDER IX ITALY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 12. Mrs. Gilbert Wilson, a passenger by R.M.s. Osterley from England, and booked through'to Auckland, in an interview with the Australian representative of the "Auckland Star," gave an interesting account of the activities of the Faseisti in Italy. •Mrs. Wilson crossed the English Channel by aeroplane, and joined the Osterley in Italy, after a glance at the most important towns. On the outside at least the Faseisti are only a crowd of beardless, excited boys, declared Mrs. Wilson. She had first met them in Milan after she had arrived from France. There were barricades up near the station, and some of the arcades were boarded up, lest street rioting should injure any of their objects of art. Mrs. Wilson said she drove through a crowd of boys in black shirts who were obviously on good terms with the soldiers to whom they were opposed.

"We next met them in Venice," added Mrs. Wilson. "My son, whom I left behind me in Italy, and I were lunching in a cafe on to the street, when a band of Fascisti strode into the room and accosted a man who was sitting two tables away from us. I have "but a poor' orth' in the Italian, and I couldn't understand their cause of complaint. But they were looking very angry, and we were deliberating the wisdom of getting out while we could, when something seemed to pacify them. "The leader, a boy with magical eyes, strode over to the orchestra, and commanded them to play something else —a martial air. 'lt is their hymn,' said my son, and we all rose to our feet. One man refused to rise and had a glass broken over his head. But that was all.

"Finally we went down in the train to Naples with a band of them. We talked to some of the lads, but could not discern in all their glorious talk of ancient Home, the tribunes, and the peopled will, any very coherent constructive policy. But they had a leader with them—an older man—who sat apart and did not talk. There may be definite intent there. We had on board with us a tiny Italian boy, grandson of a famous leader in the Fascisti.

"They were unable to spoil Ttaly for me, however," concluded llrs. Wilson. "It was my first visit, but not my last. The colour, the merriment, and the ancient glory make it pre-eminent among the lands that I have visited."

Mrs. Wilson will return to Auckland by the first available vessel.