ROME PACT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23069, 21 June 1938, Page 9

ROME PACT

NO RATIFICATION BRITISH REPLY BEQUEST BY ITALY SPAIN THE OBSTACLE TEEMS UNFULFILLED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received June 20, 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, June 20 The British Cabinet has rejected Italy's request for the ratification of the Anglo-Italian Pact without awaiting the withdrawal of volunteers from Spain, which was a condition of the pact, says the Daily Telegraph. Th agreement between Britain and Italy was signed in Rome on April 16 by the British Ambassador, the Earl of Perth, and Count Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister. In the course of previous exchanges of Notes Count Ciano wrote to Lord Perth as follows: —"Your Excellency will remember that in the course of our recent conversations, I gave Your Excellency certain assurances regarding the policy of the Italian Government in connection with Spain. I now wish to reaffirm those assurances and to place them on record. "First, the Italian Government have the honour to confirm their full adherence to the United Kingdom formula for the proportional evacuation of the foreign volunteers from Spain, and pledge themselves to give practical and real application to such an evacuation at the moment and on the conditions which shall be determined by the Nonintervention Committee on the basis of the above-mentioned formula. No Political Aims "I desire secondly to reaffirm that if this evacuation has not been completed at the moment of the terminatioin of the Spanish civil war, all remaining Italian volunteers will forthwith leave Spanish territory and all Italian warmaterial will simultaneously be withdrawn. "I wish thirdly to repeat my previous assurance that the Italian Government have no territorial or political aims and seek no privileged economic position, in or with regard to either Metropolitan Spain, the Balearic Islands, any of the Spanish possessions overseas, or the Spanish zone of Morocco, and that they have no intention whatever of keeping any armed forces in any of the said territories." In taking note of the Italian assurances regarding Spain, the British Government repeated that it regarded the settlement of the Spanish question as a prerequisite of the entry into force of the agreement. Interests in the East

The other main points covered by the two Governments were the strength of Italian garrisons in Libya; respective interests in the Middle East (with particular reference to Arabia and the Red Sea); fortifications in the Mediterranean; the Suez Canal; the boundaries of East African territories; Anglo-Egyptian interest in Lake Tsana; annual exchange of military information; commercial relations; and cooperation to prevent the evasion of anti-slavery laws. Britain and Italy declared that neither would employ publicity propaganda to injure the interests of the other. It was stated in a cablegram yesterday tliat Count Ciano had indicated, to the Earl of Perth that Italy would welcome the modification of the clause in the pact which prevents its implementation until the Italians have withdrawn from Spain. Count Ciano explained that Italy had fulfilled the clauses of the pact excepting that regarding Spain, and contended that Italy was not responsible for the fact that Spain remained an obstacle; on the contrary, the delays were due to the slowness of the Nonintervention Committee and the obstruction of other countries, notably France.