SANCTIONS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 226, 20 June 1936, Page 8

SANCTIONS

The British Government has come to the conclusion that there is nothing to be gained by a continuation of the present limited economic boycott of Italy. It is a crucial decision, and may have farreaching effects, some of them beyond the possibility of conjecture. On the question of justification there has been a sharp division of opinion in the House of Commons, which will be reflected in feeling throughout the country and the British .Commonwealth. The best that can be said of the Government in this connection is that it was faced with a humiliating fact, and had the courage to acknowledge its impotence. Britain found herself face to face with a European crisis that could have been effectively dealt with only if she had that strength of naval, military and air forces that would have induced the other members of the collective system to follow her lead had she felt it necessary to take a determined line. The significance of the decision is in its effect upon Europe, and especially upon Italy and Germany. An issue of grave importance to the League of Nations has gone by the default of its supporters, and. the collective system in Europe has sustained a shock from which it will be difficult, maybe impossible, to recover. The criticisms levelled at the Government by Mr. Lloyd George and the leaders of the Labour Party in this connection were justified on the ground of patriotic sentiment, but the speakers obviously had overlooked, the fact —a vital one—that the Dominions were divided on the question.