The Hawera Star MONDAY. DECEMBER 3, 1928. ITALY AND FRANCE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 December 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star

MONDAY. DECEMBER 3, 1928. ITALY AND FRANCE.

ljeiiver«n bver.v evening ny t> o’clock In ♦lfi.wera Manam. N.»rmunby. Okaunwa, Elibam, Mangatoki Kaponga, Alton } inileyviile Haiea. Waverlev, M0..01a, 7/lmi;amara. Ohangai Meremere. FVaeei and Ararata.

Tho cable messages published 1 to-day reporting the .outbreak off anti-French feeling in Italy servo as a reminder to •the' more phlegmatic .peoples off the earth off the temperamentail differences .between the various European races. The readiness of the. Latin peoples to view certain incidents as national'' insults eomitimues to' almaze the less emotional Anglo-Saxon. The latest incident which has incensed the Fascist! of Italy against. Franco is one which probably none of the nations, Latin or otherwise, would regard lightly, but newspaper readers cianno't imagine resentment. in British countries taking the. form it has in Italy'. An Italian viceconsul wa,s murdered in France in September last year by am ainti-Faiscist fel-low-countryman, and the murderer was tried in France, convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. This light sentence hais raised ai storm throughout Italy, students parading the streets of the principal cities amd working themselves and .the populace generally into a patriotic frenzy. Apparently it is recognised in France that there is some justification for Italian resentment, as the cables tell us that the. Government is concerned oyer the outbreak off anti-French .sentiment and admissions have .been made by' some off the newspapers of the need ffoT am overhaul of the French jury' system. After making such allowances for ‘ ‘ temperament ’ ’ ’ a.s we at this distance may, there still remains 'something disturbing in this recurrence off “feeling” between Italy and France. That the antiF.rencli wave is not coin fined to a mob moved by mob passions is demonstrated in this affair, ns it has been demonstrated in others during the last two years, by' .the fact that the. Dictator has not neglected to seize the opportunity to make one off his fiery and somewhat theatrical speeches to the Fascist!. Signor Mussolini, though he took adequate precautions to preserve the safety' of the French Embassy, did not hesitate to express his approval of the 'action's of the students and others who waved banners and marched between Fascist headquarters and the Embassy. The Duce understands the psychology' of his countrymen perfectly and his public appearances and his impassioned orations always appear to be wall-judged and timed to fan the patriotic fervour of his people. He has

never made any secret of his faith in the. power of might, and in a. recent ■utterance he weakened much of tho .sigmiffeamco of the gesture made by .him, -in common with the represemtatios of other nations, in favour of peace at the time of the signing of the Kallog Paict by declaring that Italy must arm herself even a's the other nation's which signed that “sublime” document were doing. It is impossible to judge, in the face of so many conflicting reports, what proportion of the nation is following the lead of Signor Mussolini out of the 'depth off its Fascist convictions and whait proportion is doing so because such action is expedient, but- there is an obvious danger to the peace of Europe in the constant fanning of tho spank of patriotism as it exists iin Italy and the constant direction of the resultant flame toward France.