MUSSOUNI MET

Grey River Argus, 19 March 1940, Page 7

MUSSOUNI MET

ON THE FRONTIER BY HITLER Many Guesses At Object of Talks [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] ROME, March 17. Signor Mussolini boarded a special train, going in the direction of Milan, and may meet Herr Hitler at the Brenner Pass. LATER. It is confirmed that Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini will meet to-mor-row at a secret rendezvous inside the Italian-German frontier. It is reliably learned from Berlin that Herr Hitler has already left. It is believed that he is accompanied by Herr Von Ribbentrop. LONDON, March 17. Signor Mussolini will have an opportunity of learning Herr Hitlers reflections upon Mr. Roosevelts speech, yesterday, which attracts considerable attention here. Signor Ivlus solini will also be in a position to toll Herr Hitler of his latest conversations with Mr. Welles, after his London and Paris visits. There is noe?ason to believe that Mr. Welles s reticence will have been less baffling m Rome than in London, but even through his reserve, Mussolini is not likely to have guessed something of the impression which, it is confidently believed in London. Mr. Welles has derived of the determination of the Allies to achieve their war aim. LONDON, March. 16-

Belgrade is full of gossip bf an impending Italian-Russian-German economic blttc, embracing all the small States under the influence of the three Powers. The Berlin correspondent of t‘i<Amsterdam newspapei graaf,” states that the Wflhelmstrasse is optimistic about Herr Hit ler’s efforts to reconcile M. Stalin ami Signor Mussolini. Herr Hitler is doing his utmost to engineer RussianRoumanian and Russian-Turkish nonaggression pacts. THE MEETING. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received March 19, 1-55 a.m.) LONDON, March 18. A report from the Brenner states that Signor Mussolini’s special train arrived at that little border village on the Brenner Pass, where Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler have met. The train consisted of eight coaches drawn by two engines. Talks between Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitter are scheduled to begin at 9.45 a.m. in one of the coaches, which is fitted out as an office. The talks will be conducted, whle the train is standing at the station, which is decorated with the Fascist and the Swastika flags. The station platform is red carpeted.

News in Germany (Received March 19, 2.5 a.m.) BERLIN, March 18. The morning newspapers here publish an official communique recording the meeting of Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini, under huge headlines. No comment is published with the news. British Review MUSSOLINI WILL NOT BUDGE. RUGBY, March 17. No particular surprise was manifested in diplomatic and journalistic circles in London when it became known that Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler were to meet. Many shrewd observers here believe that the failure of Herr Von Ribbentrop’s mission, last week-end, had made the meeting a foregone conclusion, and the fact that the meeting occurred sooner rather than later, and before Mi. Sumner Welles has actually left on his return to Washington, is felt slightly to increase but not greatly to change its significance. Whether Herr Hitler will be more successful than Von Ribbentrop, in explaining the recent inconsistencies of German policy, is doubted by most, and although diplomatic correspondents and political commentators express a variety of views, the prevailing opinion is that Herr Hitler has nothing to offer which will induce Signor Mussolini to abandon his carefully-weighed policy of non-belligerency, or compromise the chances which, to judge by aitic’es in Italian newspapers supnosed to have close contacts with official Italian sources, he still believes to exist, of preventing the spread of hostilities before they reach a decisive phase.

British Diplomacy

LONDON PRESS CRITICISM. NOT UP WITH EVENTS. (Received March l-£ 11-10 p.m.) LONDON, March 18. There will be a full-dress debate in Parliament to-morrow on the progress of the war. Apropos of this, “The Times in an editorial, asks: “Are British diplomacy and British war policy being co ordinated to the greatest effect . There is a slightly leisurely air about our methods. Are we hitting as often as we can, and wherever we can ? The war leaders know best how the ingredients of patience and of daring can be mixed, but public opinion in England and France would like a more dynamic current in the Allied war effort.”

The “Daily Mail” declares: “Events always seem to be one jump ahead of the British Government. The democracies hesitate while the enemy acts. The democracies show a chronic inability to implement their undertakings to the Allies or to succour their friends. It is time that the Government arrested the creeping paralysis. The Government’s lack of boldness is losing public confidence.”