ITALY'S ORDER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 87, 12 April 1940, Page 6

ITALY'S ORDER.

THE COAL SHIPS.

POSSIBLE POLITICAL MOVE.

MUSSOLINTS MIND ?

(By PERTIXAX.) PARIS, March 15. By ordering ten colliers to leave Rotterdam and take to sea—six on one day and four later—the Fascist Government has put the Anglo-l'rnuch maritime control to a Ust. Those ships are being stopped and searched, and cargoes of German coal will be submitted to the judgment of prize courts. No other course is left open to the British Government. The drastic suppression of German exports and imports (let us not forget that the exports are productive of foreign currencies, that is. of imports) is. until circumstances have changed, the most efficient weapon bandied by the Western democracies. They cannot tolerate that anyone should break or impair it.

It must l>e emphasised again that the London Cabinet is ready to do everything in its power to fill the gap opened in Italian supplies by capturing German coal. The British coalfields are now working under very high pressure. and can hardly hope to cope with the orders showered upon them. Due to the huge requirements of British and French national defence, shipping is rather scarce. Nevertheless, the exploitation of unused coalfields would he resumed and all needed ships would be found if. at that price, the goodwill of the Rome Government could be , enlisted.

Benefits to Italy. Bui fan it bo said that Mussolini and his adviser* express the problem wliidi eon f runts them in strictly economic terms? N'o, because if they did. if they tried to draw a balance-sheet, they would have to admit that notwithstanding all the inconvenience caused hv the Anglo-French control Italy has drawn lnijre benefits from the Kuropean conflict during the last six months.

She is slowly replenishing her depleted stocks of raw materials, her stocks of oil to start with, and for the first time in many years is accumulating foreign currencies. Mussolini has no cause to complain about the repercussions of the war upon the material life of his people.

The conclusion cannot be resisted that in the present juncture he ie ewayed by political motives. Therefore, the instruction* sent to the Italian officiate in Rotterdam, in charge of the coal traffic between Germany and Italy, partakes of the nature of" a political move. How can that political move be described! The first point to be stressed is that the Fascist Government boasts of living on a footing, not of neutrality, but on non-belligerency. It means that the iron pact of last ATav continue* to be in force, and that it fs regarded in the highest quarters as the diplomatic instrument best suited to promote the Italian cause. Through it Italy's great claims can be made good to a great extent and the Fascist regime further consolidated.