REPLY TO CHARGES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22215, 16 September 1935, Page 9

REPLY TO CHARGES

ETHIOPIAN NOTE INQUIRY DEMANDED COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received September 15. 6.35 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 15 The Geneva correspondent of the Associated Press says the first portion of the Abyssinian reply to Italy's 700-page indictment has been issued.

The document deals with the scientific aspects and was prepared by M. Marcel Griaule, French ethnographer and author of several works on Abyssinia. The reply declares that the Italian documents were carelessly drawn up, that many witnesses who were cited had not been consulted and that an error in a date of 1000 years discouraged serious examination.

M. Griaule says the memorandum does not justify foreign Powers' intervention in Abyssinia. Ho proposes an impartial inquiry by experts. In the meanwhile, ignoring Signor Mussolini's no compromise decision, which caused .a sensation in the lobbies, the Conciliation Commission is submitting to Italy and to Abyssinia a questionnaire asking what concessions Italy would demand and Abyssinia would accept under a scheme of international control.

It is believed that the questionnaire will be adopted as Signor Mussolini so far has refused to reveal his maximum demand.

ABYSSINIAN ARMY BELGIAN INSTRUCTORS STERN ITALIAN WARNING (Received September 15, 5.5 p.m.) JIBOUTI, Sept. 14 The Italian Consul at Jibouti has warned former Belgian officers who are on their way to Addis Ababa as army instructors that, in the event of war, if they are captured they will be shot without trial. EMPEROR FIRM DEFENCE OF COUNTRY fi , ,L . COMMISSION DEMANDED ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 13 "Ethiopia has confidence in God and knows that His justice transcends that of man; also that the cunning of modern methods is not a symbol of civilisation," said the Emperor Haili Selassie, in a broadcast speech, which was relayed throughout Europe. "We do not want war, but- we will not undergo it pacifically. We have no arms owing to the Powers' intervention, but our peasants know how to use the sword and the spear, besides the plough, when it is essential to defend the lands they cultivate." The Emperor bitterly attacked Italy's conduct in the dispute, and added that the Ethiopian delegation at Geneva had been instructed to demand an international commission of inquiry to decide between both parties.

PROBLEM FOR ITALY "CONQUEST IMPOSSIBLE" TURKISH GENERAL'S OPINION LONDON, Sept. 13 The North American Newspaper Alliance representative in Abyssinia, in a copyright message, states that when interviewed at Harrar, Wehib Pasha, a Turkish general of Gallipoli, who now is in Abyssinia, said the conquest of Ethiopia by Italy was impossible. "Ethiopia will prove the grave of Fascism," he said. An order for the mobilisation of 750,000 Abvssinians has been withheld at the suggestion of European advisers pending the conclusion of the Geneva discussions. WARNING TO POWERS PARTITION OF AFRICA MENACE OF NATIVE WAR LONDON. Sept. 13 In the course of his speech at the League of Nations Assembly the South African delegate, Mr. C. T. te Water, said a new partition of Africa, by European Powers was greatly to be feared. Such a partition outside the League's covering blanket would be fraught with the danger and menace of the black races going to war, with a consequent reversion to barbarism. "Ho has a long memory the black man in Africa, and he never forgets and never forgives an injury or an injustice," said Mr. to Water. The South African Government and all its peoples, black and white, viewed with deep concern the relentless march of the disease of war.

The speaker paid a warm tribute to the renaissance that Signor Mussolini had achieved in Italy, and asked him to pause at the eleventh hour. Mr. te Water, in a broadcast speech, declared that South Africa, in the event of a violation of the Covenant, would stand by the League in applying sanctions if the members were unanimous on the subject. The Geneva correspondent of the Associated Press says the mystic quality of Mr. te Water's speech deeply impressed the Assembly, notably his reference to the black man's long memory of injustice and his warning that an attempt to conscript black Africa might result in a rising and the overthrow of Europeans, as it had done before. The speech carried all the more weight in viow of Africa's trade relations with Italy.

RAW MATERIALS JAPAN WOULD CONFER TOKIO, Sept. 13 Tlio spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office approved Sir Samuel Hoare's references to territories and raw materials. He says Japan is willing to confer on the subject, emphasising the growing tendency to restrict Japanese goods in colonial markets.