LEAGUE MEETING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 204, 29 August 1935, Page 7

LEAGUE MEETING.

MOMENTOUS PARLEY. Delegates For Council Sitting At Geneva. ITALIAN MOVE ANTICIPATED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, August 28. Mr. Anthony Eden will probably travel on Monday to Geneva. Mr. Eden will report on the breakdown of the three-Power talk.s in Paris, and it is anticipated Baron Aloisi will have the case to present on behalf of Italy. No arrangements have been made for Mr. Eden to break his journey at Paris. The French Cabinet met to-day. It is reported to have discussed fully the international situation after an exhaustive account of the Paris conference had been contributed by M. Laval. The French delegates to the League Assembly include, besides M. Laval, M. Herriot and M. Paul Boncour. Senator Pope, of Idaho, who is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate, had an interview with Sir Samuel Hoare. Mr. Pope is in London in an entirely private capacity and was received by the Foreign Secretary at the request of the American Embassy as a distinguished American travelling to Europe. There was no communication of any kind received from him or triven to him. The Paris correspondent of "The Times" states that the Italian Ambassador, Signor Ceratti, during a conversation with the French Prime Minister, M. Laval, confirmed Signor Mussolini's intention of proposing Abyssinia's expulsion from the League of Nations. Signor Cerutti promised that documents in support of the proposal would be communicated to the French Government in a few days.

II Duce and League Council. Signor Mussolini would insist upon a settlement of the question by the Council of the League without reference to the Assembly. .said the Ambassador. The correspondent says that no indication of the official attitude toward Signor Mussolini's latest move is available yet, but the idea is fervidly welcomed by a section of tlia French Press as affording- an avenue of escape from the present dilemma. The mere possibility that Signor Mussolini will be prepared to continue to use the League's peaceful machinery is held to offer an inestimable respite. Britain is reminded that by laying his case before the Council, Signor Mussolini will remove the real issues which so far have divided British and Italian opinion. From this starting point, it is argued, the League, it' the justice of the Italian cause is admitted, might, even grant an Italian mandate over Abyssinia which would be rendered effective by what one French newspaper calls "a somewhat severe police operation." Other euphemisms for an authorised war are suggested, all of them based on • the assumption that the British objections to the absorption of Abyssinia can be now removed and averted. The French Press makes a strong, almost desperate, appeal to Siguor Mussolini in the meanwhile to refrain from attacking in defiance of all his engagements.

MEAT FOR THE TROOPS. SOUTH AFRICAN SHIPMENT. (Received 11 a.m.) CAPETOWN, August 28. The first cargo of 1000 tons of beef left Durban for Eritrea. Women's organisations have protested that the shipments will lead to higher prices. A Malanite party organ warns the public of the danger of participating in the boycott of Italy.

CHURCH CONSIDERS. "TRUCE OF GOD" PROPOSAL. '(" Times " Cable.) LONDON, August 28. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang, in a letter to "The Times," refers to Mr. George Lansbury's proposal for a "truce of God." He says he is considering how far it may be achieved. In the meantime he advises Christians to bear witness to the spiritual power which alone ran establish peace and share in establishing international justice and order.

Italy's Case Documented. The "Daily Mail" Koine correspondent states that Signor Mussolini is sending a veritable library to the meeting of tha League Council on September 4. to prove Italy's case aguinst Abyssinia, including Lady Simon's book, "Slavery," numerous British White Papers, and photographs and other documents bearing on every phase of Abyssinian life. The documentation will be divided into several sections, including Abyssinia's non-observance of her international obligations, slavery, the barbarous oppression of the black peoples under Abyssinian rule, the complete lack of justice, and the extremely low level of civilisation even among the most pro-' gressive sections of the population.