NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20655, 29 August 1930, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ITALY'S DESIRE FOR PEACE. The anxiety of Signor Mussolini for peaceful development of Italy's economic activities is emphasised in a contribution to the London Observer bv Mr. E. W. Poison-Newman, in which he records an interview with the Italian leader. " Italy must have peace in which to carry out the all-important work of internal progress," said the Duce. "In many directions great work has already been done, and is being clone, to increase the cultivable areas of the country, in providing electrical energy to replace the absence of coal in Italy, and to improve communications. Toward these ends the resources of men are being utilised to the fullest extent. . . The results of this so-called bonifica policy in the last few years have been most remarkable. Italy is becoming more self-supporting and can provide more and more employment for her increasing population. The country must be made as fertile as it can be made, it must yield the maximum crops, and it must feed and employ the maximum number of people. Nothing less will satisfy me in this direction. For the internal progress vital to the welfare of the nation peace is absolutely essential, although the geographical position of Italy makes it necessary that Italians should be prepared to defend their country against such potential enemies as exist to east and west. But Italy wishes to be on the best of terms with all her neighbours. Even with the Austrians, who were among our bitterest enemies, we are. now on the most friendly terms. The prestige of Italy and her position in the world have improved very considerably in recent years, but I hope to see a further improvement in this respect. Yet, to accomplish our object, wo must have peace."

THE RISK OF CONFLICT. That there are dangerous elements in the relations between Italy and her neighbours is suggested by Mr. Frank H. Simonds, in the American Review of Reviews. "I do not wish to seem an alarmist," he says. " Yet in my judgment, the present situation between France and Italy could lead to conflict at any moment. . . . It would be folly for Italy to attempt war with France. Nor do 1 believe Mussolini at the moment contemplates it. But the state of mind of Italy would make her position difficult, if not impossible, in the face of any incident. And nothing is less likely than that Franco in her present temper will make any considerable concessions." Mr. Simonds adds thai, though it is foolish to say that u Franco-Italian war is imminent or inevitable, such a conflict must be recognised as within tho limits of possibility and the possibility gives new gravity to all European questions, for a shot fired in the streets of Tirana could easily have as evil consequences for all Europo as tho bullets of Serajcvo.

TARIFF POLICIES FOR BRITAIN. The variety of tariff proposals that are being advocated in Britain have been summarised by tho Economist as follows: (I) A high tariff against all so-called " manufactured goods," advocated in the belief that by keeping theso out of the country there would be a net addition to employment. (2) Comparatively high duties on carefully selected manufactured goods, supported on the ground that the effect would be to stimulate a little employment here or there in particular cases without doing very much harm. (3) A tariff for revenue, proposed by those who believo that an import revenue duty on most commodities would help the Exchequer and give a slight bias in favour of the home producer without seriously checking export trado. In addition, there are those who would risk a slight duty on whoat, and possibly other items of food, and even on wool, in the belief that it might bo a suflicient psychological encouragement to tho Dominions to overcome tho resistance of their own manufacturers and grant us substantial reductions in their tariffs upon nmufactured goods. There are others who are piepared to face a sufficiently substantial food tax to raise prices appreciably in Great Britain, contending that a reduction of real wages is necessary and that is the only way to obtain it without internal disturbances. I here are even some, though u«t many, who think that it, is practicable to raise food prices sufficiently high to be of substantial benefit to British agriculture.