Mr. Chamberlain’s Visit To Rome

Northern Advocate, 3 January 1939, Page 6

Mr. Chamberlain’s Visit To Rome

(Received 2 p.m.) LONDON, January 2. ; The official programme of the visit to Italy of Mr ...Chamberlain and Viscount Halifax on January II is announced. They will arrive by special train in the .afternoon and stay at the Villa Madama on Monte Mario, frequently Used for the entertainment of distinguished guests. Full Days, They will visit' Signor Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia, and will be the guests of II Duce at a banquet on the evening of January 12. '■ They will lay wreaths on the tombs of King Humbert and Queen Marg--herita, after which they will lunch with the King and witness a Young Fascist training display. On January 13 they will have an audience with the Pope, and attend the Governor of Rome’s reception, and give .a banquet at the British Embassy in. the evening. On January 15 they will return home. Prospects Summed Up. “The Times” points out that the programme enables ample meetings with Signor Mussolini. Presumably will be arranged as the discussions develop.

It, is a certainty that the Spanish problem will figure largely in the conversations, which will be specially interesting, in view of the tenacity of the Government’s troops’ defence. Signor Mussolini is undoubtedly anxious, in view of the continuous drain on Italian resources threatening to exceed expenditure. In Abyssinia it has already been exceeded. There have been casualties there, and Italy’s reinforcements recently have been neglible. Supplies of material have been reduced, in the interests of economy and foreign policy, but in view of the unlikelihood of Britain granting General Franco belligerent rights, Signor Mussolini must soon decide whether to cut his losses in a struggle in which the result is doubtful and Italians are not interested.