ABYSSINIAN DISPUTE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 258, 28 September 1935, Page 9

ABYSSINIAN DISPUTE

REQUEST FOR ORSERYERS

GIVEN SERIOUS ATTENTION COMMITTEE IN SESSION J (United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received September 28, 9.10 a.m GENEVA, Sept. 2T. The Bureau of the League Assembly decided to propose to the full meeting to-morrow that the Assembly should not be dissolved but adjourned, thus, enabling it to be called upon at 24 hours’ notice in the event of the necessity arising. The Associated Press special Geneva correspondent says the first meeting of the Committee of Thirteen dealt solely with the Emperor’s request for frontier observers, wbicli met with a good deal of support, but some opposition on practical grounds. It was decided to telegraph the Emperor acknowledging his request, the decision on which was postponed pending . receipt of expert advice

EXPERT ATTENTION. FOR OBSERVATION PLAN. . (British Official Wireless.) ( Received September 28, 11.20 a.m. RUGBY, Sept. 27. The League Council’s Committee of Thirteen elected as chairman Senor De Madriaga, who is also chairman of the Conciliation Committee of Five. The committee discussed the request of the Ethiopian Government for the despatch of League commissioners to observe conditions on the frontiers and fix the responsibility for any act of aggression. It was decided to accept the request in principle, but the practical possibilities have been referred to a committee of experts drawn from the British, French, and Spanish delegations. The Committee of Thirteen also undertook a preliminary discussion on the form of its report and the nature of the recommendations which it will submit to the Council under Paragraph 4 of Article 15 of the Covenant. M Laval left for Paris after the first meeting of the Committee of Thirteen, and Mr R. A. Eden is returning to London to-morrow night or Sunday for a few days. NOT INSUPERABLE.

FREEDOM OF ACTION,

PRESERVED BY ITALY. INDIFFERENT ATTITUDE. (Times Cables.) LONDON, Sept. 27. The Rome correspondent of the Times says the newspapers still stress the significance of the Italian delegation’s abstention from yesterday’s Council sitting. They declare that it is a logical consequence of the attitude adopted by the Italian Government on September 4. “From that day,” says the Giornale D’ltalia, “Italy has shown that it is impossible to find within the League a solution to the conflict, which exceeds its limits. Italy, therefore, preserves tho fullest liberty of action, which she will use according to her own interests.” The Geneva correspondent of the Times stfys the Italian delegation declare that so far they have not received new instructions. The delegation, it was added, would watch the League’s procedure “with the greatest imlifference,” convinced of the essential fultility of attempting to treat Abyssinia as a civilised nation. HORRORS OF WAR. REFERENCE BY POPE. VATICAN CITY, Sept. 26. The Pope, in a message to the Eucharistic Congress at Cleveland (Ohio), begged the speakers to deprecate war s unspeakable material and moral horrors and its dire aftermath. He urged the promotion of peace near and far. ARTICLE XV. WHAT IT DECLARES.

MR EDEN ON DIFFICULTIES. REBUKE FOR ABYSSINIA? Received September 28, 12.15 p.m. GENEVA, Sept. 27. The Associated Press correspondent says that Britain took the lead at the meeting of the Committee of Thirteen, advocating the adoption of the Emperor’s proposals for the despatch of neutral observers. It is understood that Mr R. A. Eden does not regard the difficulties as insuperable. The experts’ aommittee will probably be limited to ten. Britain does not desire representation for fear of increasing the Italian complaints that she is taking a preponderant share. The Council, after defining the general lines of the dispute, will leave the specialists to present the historical aspect. it is already manifest that a number of Italian complaints are so wellfounded that the Council’s report is likely to rebuke Abyssinia to some extent. britaiJncTenemy. MR MACDONALD’S REFERENCE. Received September 28, 10.50 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 27. Britain, said Mr Ramsay MacDonald, at a luncheon on the liner Orion, was not an enemy of Italy and did not desire a quarrel. No nation was more < ugle-heartedly, or with greater sincerity, working for peace than Britain. He asked Italy was it worth while ? ARMS TRAFFIC STARTS. MUNITIONS FROM BELGIUM. (Times Cables.) LONDON, Sept. 27. “It is now clear that the arms embargo has definitely been broken,” says the Addis Ababa correspondent of the Times in a copyright message. “The Government expects a shipment of arms from Belgium daily. This cargo was banned in July, and was removed from a ship lying at Antwerp, although the Emperor, Haile Selassie, had already'paid for it. The shipment includes 1700 rifles, 2300 carbines and seven billion rounds of ammunition, worth £25,000. A number of Swiss anti-aircraft guns have reached Addis Ababa, and Swiss instructors arc- teaching native gunners how to use the guns.’ NO MOBILISATION ORDER. DENIAL OF REPORT.

Article XV. of the League Covenant is as follows: —lf there snould arise between members of the League any dispute likely to lead to a rupture, which is not submitted to arbitration in accordance with Article XIII., the members of the League agree that they will submit the matter to the. Council. Any party to the dispute may effect such submission by giving notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary-General, who will make all the necessary arrangements for a full investigation and consideration thereof. For this purpose the parties to the dispute will communicate to the Sec-retary-General, as promptly as possible, statements of their case, with all the relevant fact and papers, and the Council may forthwith direct the publication thereof. The Council shall endeavour to effect a settlement of the dispute, and if such efforts are successful, a statement shall be made public giving such facts and explanations regarding the dispute and the terms of settlement thereof as the Council may deem appropriate. , ~ If the dispute is not thus settled, the Council either unanimously or by a majority vote shall make and publish a report containing a statement of facts of the dispute and the recommendations which are deemed just and proper in regard thereto. Any. member of the League represented on the Council may make public a statement of the facts of the dispute and of its conclusions regarding the same. If a report by the Council is unanimously agreed to by the members thereof, other than the representatives of one or more of the parties to the dispute, the members of the League agree that they will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with the recommendations of the report. If the Council fails to reach a report which is unanimously agreed to by the members thereof, other than the representatives of one or more of the parties to the dispute, the members of the League reserve to themselves the right to _ take such action as they shall consider necessary for the maintenance of right and justice. ; If the dispute between the parties is claimed by one of them, and is found by tlie Council to arise out of a. matter which by international law is solely within the domestic jurisdiction of that party, the Council shall so report, and shall make no recommendations as to its settlement. The Council may. in any case under this Article refer the dispute to tlie Assembly. The dispute shall be so referred'at the request of either party to the dispute, provided that such request be made within 14 days after the submission of the dispute to the Council. In any case referred to the Assembly, all the provisions of this Article and of Article XII relating to the action and powers of the Council shall apply to the action and powers of the Assembly, provided that a report made by the Assembly, if concurred in by the representatives ol those members of the League represented on the Council and of a majority of the other members of the League, exclusive in each case of the representatives of the parties to the dispute, shall have the same force as a report by the Council concurred in by all the members thereof other than the representatives of one or more of the parties to the dispute.

LONDON, Sept. 27. The 'circumstantial mid-week story from Addis Ababa of general mobilisation in Abyssinia has been instantly and officially denied.

NEUTRALITY MOTION. ADOPTED BY ASSEMBLY. GENEVA, Sept. 27. The League Assembly unanimously adopted the British neutrality resolution, and the Council will appoint a committee of experts, probably twelve. AUSTRALIA’S SUPPORT. PROMISED TO BRITAIN. CANBERRA, Sept. 27. In the House of Representatives today, the Prime Minister (Mr J. A. Lyons) yielded to pressure from the Labour Opposition and to a section of the Australian Press to state how far the Commonwealth had been committed to Britain for the preservation of pence. In the course of his statement he said: — “When I was in London the British Government took the representatives of the Dominions fully into its confidence witli regard to the position in Europe. I came out of those conferences with the firm conviction that T could trust the British Government to do everything that even members of the Labour Party would do for the preservation of ,peace. “Appreciating the bona tides of the British Government I gave an assurance that I would guarantee that the Government and people of Australia would stand by them right up to the hilt. (Ministerial cheers.) That is the only thing to which Australia is committed.”