WOULD SMASH LEAGUE

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 August 1935, Page 5

WOULD SMASH LEAGUE

MUSSOLINI’S THEORIES

PREVIOUS OFFER RECALLED REFUSAL AT CONFERENCE. (United Pre.w Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright.) Received 2.15 p.m. to-day. LONDON, Aug. 23. The “Daily Herald,’’ in a leader considers that Signor Mussolini’s interview demands a plain reply that war is not justified by an assertion, even if (true, tnat Abyssinia, is a. modern weapon pointed at • Italy’s back, because Abyssinia agreed to sub-

mit any dispute to the League and to abide by its decisions. Signor Mussolini suggests that so tremendous a movement as Rome’s return to imperial status is not governed by the covenant. Such a theory smashes the League to smithereens and brings the world face to face with ruin. If Italy can niake such a claim, so can Germany.” League circles regard Signor Mussolini’s statement as the most forcible he has yet made regarding Italy’s attitude towards the League, but. they point out that Article 19 was designed to ensure a peaceful revision of treaties and international questions, whereas Italy is determined to revert to a revision by force. Article 22 provides that backward races may be placed under the tutelage of more civilised nations holding a League mandate, but Signor Mussolini refused this when England and France suggested it at the recent three-Power conference in Paris.