BRITAIN AND ITALY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 122, 22 April 1940, Page 7

BRITAIN AND ITALY.

FRIENDSHIP DESIRED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, April 20. Speaking at a Labour meeting Dr. Hugh Dalton said: “There is iincertainty as to Italy’s intentions and it is our duty to speak quite clearly. Our war is against Hitler and his barbarian hordes. We neither desire nor seek any other enemy. But we shall not run away from any allies ivhom Hitler may collect. We arc mentally prepared for all possibilities. “In the North Sea we have destroyed most of Hitler’s fleet, and British and French sea power can now be strongly reinforced in any other sea. A strong army stands in Syria and the adjoining lands. “I myself love Jtaß and have undying memories of fighting side by side with brave Italian soldiers in the last war. As comrades-in-arms we retreated together and advanced together and conquered together. For me and countless other Englishmen it would bo a much sadder thing to be at war with Italy than at war with Germany. May it not come. But if it comes, we shall face it without fear and with no flicker of hesitation. “I believe in my heart that destiny intended Englishmen and Italians to he friends. We all owe an immeasurable debt to the civilisation of Rome and Italian genius through the centuries in the arts, literature and science and the constructive achievements of modern times. Italy’s place is not at the side of a barbarian swaggering to his doom.” In Italy the greater part of the Press is giving prominence to German reports of successes in Norway. One paper describes the battle at Narvik as a brilliant victory, and says that 6000 British troops were killed. Nothing is known about this in London, where it is described as “fantastic.” This followed an article in the Giornale l’ltalia last night. The article appeared to he less hostile to the Allies, and denied that Italy might make a demarche to Great Britain about the extension of the Allied blockade and the activities of the new trading corporation in the Balkans. Signor Gayda, in the same paper, states that Italy’s Mediterranean po icy was a poliev not of domination, but of collaboration with other Powers. A good example of the blunder into which part of tho Italian Press has been led by the campaign to holster up German claims is seen in a weekly illustrated paper, which publishes a hall-page photograph of an aeroplane, and writes of its performance of transporting German troops to Norway, but the ’plane in the photographs contains the markings of the Royal Air xorco. Evidence that the Italian people are becoming more and more distrustful of German reports is to be iound in the extended circulation of one newspaper which gives objective news. It is the Vatican paper Osscrvatore Romano, which is now selling more than 120,000 copies daily—more than ten trues its normal circulation. 'The official Italian denial that the arrival of a German military mission in Rome is anything more than a matter of routine is accepted with some reserve in the British Press. ne Times and the Daily Telegraph suggest that Germany would like to involve Italy in tho present struggle ir sue could find a way. MEDITERRANEAN ENTENTE. PARIS, April 20. The Prime Minister (M. Reyuaud) told the Foreign Affairs Committee that France would continue to seek an equitable regulation of all pending questions with Italy in the hope or reaching a Mediterranean Entente. France had informed Italy that she was prepared to seek an equitable settlement by friendly exchanges Those overtures were without result, hut despite the attitude the Italian Government had taken up it had not changed the disposition of the French Government. He added that, apart from all ideological considerations, France would continue to seek a Mediterranean understanding with Italy and Spain, which was an indispensable basis for peace.