CENSURE MOTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 7

CENSURE MOTION.

LABOUR ATTACK.

Government to be Challenged On Peace Proposals. ITALY "ASKS FOR MORE." United Press Association.—Copyright. * (Received 12 noon.) LONDON", December 17. The Labour Opposition lias tabled a censure motion to be moved on Thursday in the House of Commons, declaring that the peace terms constitute a reward for an aggressor, destroy collective security and conflict with the expressed will of the country in support of the League to which Britain is in honour pledged.

The motion asks the House to demand that the terms be immediately repudiated.

While M. Laval was facing an angry Chamber of Deputies, the British Cabinet spent the morning deliberating on how best to meet the House of Commons. Sir Samuel Hoare was not present. His doctors have advised him not to leave his home before the week-end. Consequently it is not likely he or Mr. Eden will participate in the debate, although it immediately concerns them.

The most ironical feature of the situation is that the louder the clamour against the proposals rises throughout the world, the morp critically Italy looks the gift horse in the mouth. It is understood Signor Cerutti, Italian Ambassador to Paris, informed M. Laval yesterday that Italy demands Aksum and the control of Assab, leaving Abyssinia only port rights. Also all foreign concessions must be from year to year in the Italian colonisation region in south Abyssinia, where Italy must have full police control. Plain Speaking by Mr. Baldwin. The "Daily Telegraph" political correspondent says that Sir Samuel Hoare's position is delicate, but Mr. Baldwin is expected to oppose a change in the Foreign Office. The correspondent adds that Mr. Baldwin will indulge in plain speaking when he defends tlio proposals in the House of Commons debate and will stress that in deciding to approve of the peace plan the Government is conscious of the grave risk of a European war that would follow the imposition of a fully effective oil embargo against Italy.

The issue will be frankly stated, namely, that the Government is not prepared to embark on a course which might lead to war in the absence of absolute guarantees of effective military support from other League members.

The Government has throughout insisted that Britain would - never act alone on behalf of tlio League, but all measures must be collective. This fact was re-emphasised in Government circles last night,, and the lack of definite assurances by other nations was given as the reason for the course which has been pursued. The Government is confident that Thursday's debate will put the situation in its true light.

The "Telegraph" Geneva correspondent says that all eyes are turned toward London. The British Cabinet's decision and the outcome of the House of Commons debate are awaited with interest unparalleled in the League's history.