ANXIETY FELT

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 154, 27 December 1935, Page 8

ANXIETY FELT

"SQUALL TO TEMPEST"

M. LAVAL'S PART

PARIS PLAN STILL ALIVE

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received December 27, 2 p.m.) LONDON,.December 26. "The Times" correspondent al Rome states that general uneasiness and anxiety are hanging over "the saddest Christmas since the war." This is reflected in a lengthy examination of the situation by the "Ob- • servatore Romano," in which the writer laments the absence of a single word of conciliation or the possibility of a settlement. He adds: "The squall on the horizon threatens to become a tempest." The writer emphasises that Sir Samuel Hoare's speech on December 19 was an authoritative exposition of the situation, but nevertheless he contends that the Paris proposals are still alive both for the League,and for France. He expresses the opinion that the League has only a coldstoraged plan, while France demands a negotiated peace. Accordingly, M. Laval must continue his efforts, trying everything within the orthodoxy of the League, and for that reason sanctions are not excluded from the negotiations. Meanwhile developments in the future depend on the stability of M. Laval's Cabinet and the outcome of the British soundings in the Mediterranean. The appointment bf Mr. Anthony Eden and resultant British diplomatic; steps are worrying ; thewriter, as also is the French naval cruise. : . Signor .Virgino Gayda, the Italian publicist, re-examining Sir Samuel Hoare's speech, sums up the objection to the Paris proposals, declaring that they do not go as far as the treaties made between 1891 and 1925, which, he declares, retain their full validity between England and Italy. Hence it'is iftteresting to know whether they are now regarded as scraps of paper.