ITALY’S PLIGHT IN ETHIOPIA

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22317, 3 February 1938, Page 11

ITALY’S PLIGHT IN ETHIOPIA

♦ LACK OF CAPITAL A HINDRANCE NATIVES CONTINUE TO RESIST WAR ELSEWHERE MAY -MEAN LOSS OF EMPIRE (UETTBD PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPTXISSTJ (Received February 2. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, February 1. Th'- Aden correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that Italy still lias three big problems in Abyssinia—lack of capital, the passive resistance of the natives, and r.a stifling effect of the State-con-trolled system of trading. Italian cfT rials say that Italian industrialists have already invested £5,000,000 in Abyssinia, but the Rome Government is not putting money into the country. There is no visible sign of prospecting or of industrial development. Italians are leaving for home in considerable numbers via I.lassawa and Djibouti, including soldiers, traders, and navvies. Lack of capital has retarded colonisation, even in the comparatively secure zones around Addis Ababa and Har •. Timber and other building material from Italy costs double the normal price. Everything else, including flour, eggs, and meat, is equally expensive, and is often difficult to get. Since the first 100 were placed on the land two years ago, little has been heard of the soldier settlers who were to leave the rifle for the plough. The Italian-occupation is firmly established in Addis Ababa, Harar. Diredawa, and other towns and within a 50 miles’ radius of than, but native chieftains still hold sway in the greater part of the regions where lack of roads makes the quick movements of troops impossible. It is estimated that only about a third of the arms the natives possessed at the close of the war have been surrendered. The Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway is constantly harassed by brigands. Black shirt legionaries, equipped with rifles, daggers, and machine-guns, man the trucks, but are sometimes outnumbered by hordes which swoop down and plunder the trains. This does not mean that the Italian occupation is in jeopardy. So long as Rome keeps the peace in Europe, Egypt, and French North Africa she will hold her new' empire,, but in the event of war beyond her own frontiers the Abyssinians might drive her out. The natives have abandoned agriculture and many thousands have flc.l to the hills and jungles. They resent being paid ’ vss for their wheat, cattle, and coffee than ir their own market price.