GENEVA ACTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 238, 8 October 1935, Page 7

GENEVA ACTION.

FRENCH APPEAL TO ITALY. CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES. COMMITTEE OF SIX REPORT ADOPTED. United Press Association.—Copyright.—Pec. 10.30 a.m. GENEVA, October 7. The Committee of Thirteen unanimously adopted the report of the Committee of Six. M. Laval attempted to obtain from Italy an immediate cessation of hostilities enabling a delay in the application of sanctions and the initiation of new negotiations. Dr. Hawariat, Abyssinia, however, insisted that negotiations were only possible after the withdrawal of the Italians from Abyssinian soil. Baron Aloisi, Italy, made a fruitless last-minute attempt to delay proceedings, saying that he had not had time to study the report. The British United Press says that Haile Silassie telegraphed to the League pointing out that the Abyssinian Army had not yet gone into action and that the forces so far engaged had merely been frontier guards and isolated detachments. No attempt had been made to defend Adowa, so that no doubt could be left as to who was the aggressor. The representative of the Associated Press at Geneva says the Committee of Six has completed its report on the dispute between Italy and Abyssinia. It decided not to disclose the contents of its report until it had been circulated among the members of the Council. Nevertheless, it is understood that although the committee unanimously decided that the Covenant had been violated, the report, in order not to wound the susceptibilities of certain countries, does not mention an aggressor, but indicates that Italy resorted to war in defiance of the Covenant. Committee Sits for Three Hours. Mr. Anthony Eden pressed the committee to complete its task last evening, and this was achieved after a three hours' sitting. As can be understood, he was disappointed that the Council on Saturday had not made real progress, but with the members in early possession of the report of the Committee of Six, with which Mr. Eden is well satisfied, the Council could not delay matters further. The League Council will meet at 5 p.m. on Monday. It will first vote on the report of the Committee of Thirteen, and then it will consider that of the Committee of Six, thus moving immediately from Article XV. to Article XVI. However, in view of the Assembly's resolution of 1921, laying down that each country must decide for itself whether an act of aggression has been committed, it is not legally necessary to take a vote on Monday. But policy and practicability both demand that the members should define" their position at the Council table unless they have since become apprehensive of the determination they expressed in the Assembly debate. As all the members except Italy produced the report of the Committee of Thirteen the voting on that should be a formality. Then will arise the question whether the same members can be screwed up unanimously to declare Italy the aggressor. Unanimity on that point is not necessary, but it is desirable. Then it will 'become a question whether the Council will recommend the carrying out of the Covenant in its entirety.