“DOUBLE SOMERSAULT.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 264, 6 October 1936, Page 7

“DOUBLE SOMERSAULT.”

THE LEAGUE AND ABYSSINIA. Commenting on Geneva’s unexpected decision to admit Abyssinia to the present Assembly session instead of shelving the question, the London Daily Express says: “It is a rebuff to Italy. The League has double somersaulted. The Negus has won, and the Franco-British move to bring the Italians to Geneva has failed Supporters of the League are jubilant here, saying that the League has saved its soul. It has done so at the expense of one of its important limbs — Italy.

“The abrupt change at the secret meeting of the Credentials Committee was dictated by one person for two reasons. The one person was M. Litvinoff, of Soviet Russia. The reasons were, first, that after a three days’ search no proper legal grounds were found for excluding Abyssinia; and, second, no representative of the nations was willing to propose in the full light of publicity that the victim of Italian aggression should be excluded. “Litvinoff, arguing that the legal position did not permit invalidating Abyssinia’s credentials, was supported by'the small nations, so Air Eden took the view that the committee’s decision to refer the matter to The Hague was useless because under the League clause that Litvinoff unearthed Abyssinia must sit while the matter was being settled. “Italy’s intransigeance also contributed. Mussolini’s dramatic radio message cancelling his delegation when The Hague plan was revealed showed Britain and Franco that nothing short of complete submission would suit the Italian Dictator.”