FRANCE AND ITALY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 228, 26 September 1930, Page 6

FRANCE AND ITALY.

It is reported from Geneva that the negotiations between Italy and France in regard to naval armaments have broken down. This is an unfortunate sequel to the very promising l initiation of "conversations" between the two Powers which began soon after the. close of the Naval Conference. In justice to Italy it should be remembered that this proposal for a cessation of naval building for the current year was made first by Grandi at the Naval Conference. But France at that time rejected the offer, which Briand accepted a little later, and the result was a revival of "Franco-phobia" in Italy, marked by Mussolini's violent and bellicose sjDeeches. However, public feeling seems to have changed in Italy since then even more completely than in France. The leading Italian newspapers approved of the amicable relations thus established between the two countries, and even indicated that in such an atmosphere of mutual confidence and good will it might be possible to effect a settlement of conflicting colonial claims in North Africa. But the best proof of the value of Briand's manoeuvre was the sudden change of tone in Mussolini's public utterances. He gave an interview to the London "Observer," emphasising his desire for "peace above all things." To accomplish all the great objects that he has in view for Italy, "we must have peace." Considering the unlimited power wielded by Mussolini in his own country, the contrast between this benevolent pacifism and the violently aggressive tone of his previous speeches at Florence and Rome was most strongly marked, and it inspired the "Times" to declare that "it is impossible to believe that the ingenuity of Franco-Italian diplomacy will fail to find a settlement of points of difference." But this was written after the "conversations" between France . and Italy had begun. Now they have ceased, and we have still to learn whether the failure of these negotiations means the relapse of the two Powers into a state of itib-conscioTts tiriagoniscr or not