THE NEW AGREEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 70, 20 September 1937, Page 9

THE NEW AGREEMENT

DETAILS OF OPERATION

RIGHTS TO DEFEND SHIPPING

(Brltlsb Official Wireless.)

(Received September 20,' 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, September 18.

The Italian Government having received a copy of the agreement supplementary to the Nyon arrangement which was signed yesterday, its terms were published in Geneva today. The Italian Government has been informed that its practical observations 'on the second agreement, as on the first, will be given the closest attention by the Nyon Powers. The new agreement applies to attack by surface vessels or aircraft upon any merchant ship in the Mediterranean not belonging to the parties to the Spanish conflict when such attack is accompanied by violation! of humanitarian principles embodied in the rules of international law relating to warfare at sea as laid down in Part Four of the Treaty of London, 1930, and confirmed in the London Protocol signed in November last. Any. surface war vessel which witnesses such an attack when engaged in carrying out the Nyon arrangement is authorised, if the attack is by aircraft, to open fire on such aircraft, or if the attack is committed by a surface vessel, to intervene within the limits of its powers and if necessary summon assistance in that task. In territorial waters each of the participating Powers concerned will give instructions as to the measures to be taken by its own war vessels in the spirit of the present agreement. It is pointed out that nothing in the agreement prejudices the right of any country to defend its shipping from attack of any kind, whether such attack is in conflict with humanitarian principles or is merely illegal.