A BASIS FOR PEACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22712, 26 October 1935, Page 13

A BASIS FOR PEACE

PROPOSALS IN ITALIAN PAPER THREE POINTS SUGGESTED all the battle fronts quiet INVADERS PREPARING TO ADVANCE (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, October 24. (Received October 25, at 11.30 p.m.) The official announcement from Rome of the withdrawal of a division of 15,000 troops from Libya to Italy was accompanied by the announcement of what the Daily Telegraph believes to be Signor Mussolini’s first definite peace terms, which give new interest to the discussions which are at present proceeding. The Italian Spokesman, according to The Times Rome correspondent, strongly emphasised that Italy was withdrawing the troops on her own initiative unconditionally and was not requesting Britain to make a corresponding gesture. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the Italian action will contribute towards tranquilisation of the situation and that Britain will see her way to withdraw some British warships from the Mediterranean. The so-called peace terms appear in the Giornale d’ltalia, in which Dr Gayda suggests three points that would satisfy Italy:— (1) Disarming Abyssinia, with international control over territory which Italy considers Abyssinia proper, as distinct from the outlying provinces, racially separated. (2) Italian occupation of the Tigre. (3) Abyssinia to be given a port in Eritrea. These proposals admittedly closely resemble those reported from Paris, which Signor Mussolini rejected. It is also believed that Signor Mussolini is more likely to demand Zeila as an Abyssinian port. ________

ITALIAN TROOPS IN LIBYA WITHDRAWAL OF DIVISION LONDON, October 24. It is confirmed that Signor Suvich informed Sir Eric Drummond yesterday that Italy had ordered the withdrawal of a division of 20,000 Italian troops from Libya. . They will probably go to Tripoli in view of the difficulties of bringing them back to Italy. The Libyan forces at present are 60,000 to TO’OOO compared with 15,000 British troops in Egypt. British Government circles welcome the move, but emphasise that it was taken entirely on Italian initiative, and is in no way associated with bargaining, and was not accompanied ly a request for a reciprocal gesture on the part of Britain. This clear statement from an authoritative quarter discounts the rumours on the Continent concerning the withdrawal of ships from the Mediterranean. The Admiralty, replying to an Associated Press Association inquiry regarding the withdrawal of two warships from the Mediterranean, said: “We know nothing about it.” The assumption is that Italy has not done sufficient in Libya to justify British response. ITALIANS’ NEXT BIG PUSH ROME, October 24. Italy expects that the next big push will be launched on October 28, the anniversary. of the Fascist March on Rome. THREE GREAT ARMIES LONDON, October 24. The British United Press Association’s Rome correspondent says;—All Italy is confident that the three great armies mustered in East Africa will on October 28 start in earnest the invasion f * Abyssinia. General de Bono’s northern army is expected to move towards Makale. The eastern army _is given the double task of assisting General de Bono’s left flank and attacking the Abyssinians in the Harar region, while General Graziani’s southern army is expected to attack Nasibu, who is barring the road to the Djibouti railway. The gigantic nature of Italy’s war effort is revealed in the published figures of the arrival in East Africa during September, when 40,000 men and 65,000 tons of war materials were landed. ABYSSINIANS ADVANCING LONDON, October 24. The Addis Ababa correspondent of The Times states: —Ras Mnlugbcta (Minister of War), who is leading 70,000 troops from the capital to Desseye, has now advanced 50 miles. His followers arc eating up the country like Lcusts as they march. If they see a crop of beans, wheat, or maize they immediately consume it raw. They also camp together, making an enormous target for air raids. Mulugheta, despite his 62 years, is an excellent marcher. 14c covers 20 miles a day, accompanied by retainers carrying camp furniture, including vast tables, on their heads. Many women are following the army, including Mulugheta’s own household. PESSIMISM IN ABYSSINIA ADDIS ABABA, October 24. The Government is pessimistic and the opinion is general that Britain is letting down Abyssinia, which will be forced to fight unaided.

HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE SPEECH BY MR CHURCHILL (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, October 24. The third day of the debate in the House of Commons on the international situation opened with a speech by Mr Winston Churchill, who began by referring to the progress of German rearmament. Whatever they, thought of the reasons or object of that movement, he submitted that they could not have any other .anxiety comparable to the anxiety that it caused. Compared with that he regarded the war between Italy and Abyssinia as a very small matter. It was on the basis of German rearmament that the dispute between Italy and the League must be considered, and in all the circumstances he thought the efforts which France had made to give effect to the League Covenant deserved warm recognition. He expressed sympathy with the Abyssinians in the invasion of their country, but said that now they had appealed to the League they must be made to put their house in order, so that the League could not be accused of taking one-sided action against Italy. A great and new fact in the international situation, Mr Churchill declared, 'was that the League of Nations was alive and in action. They were in the presence of a memorable event—the assertion of public law by 50 nations and its recognition by a State affected and by the historic figure at the head of that State. The League of Nations had passed from the shadow into the substance, from rhetoric into reality. The structure was always majestic, but was hitherto shadowy. It was being clothed with power. They began to feel the beating of a pulse which might some day give a greater measure of strength and security to the whole world. In a striking passage Mr Churchill asked the House not to suppose that the

measures that were being taken against Italy were not the most formidable. They must not look only a month or two, ahead. Where would the Italian dictator lie this time next year? He might be far into Abyssinia with an army of a quarter of a million of men wasting rapidly by guerrilla warfare and disease, and all the time Italy would be under the boycott and censure of practically the whole world. She would be bleeding at every pore, her gold reserves melting away, her prices rising, and her credit gone. Mr Arthur Greenwood (Labour) charged the Government with using the international crisis to divert attention from the failure of its unemployment policy. Sir John Simon, replying to the debate, denied that the Government was negotiating with France and Italy behind the back of the League for a settlement which the League would then be asked to accept, and. to which Abyssinia would be told to agree. The Government’s policy from the beginning of the dispute had been to promote if it could a settlement which would not only lie within the Covenant but would be acceptable to Italy and Abyssinia. “We have no intention of wavering in giving effect to our obligations under the Covenant.” The debate concluded without a vote. HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATE (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, October 24. In the course of the resumed debate on the international situation in the House of Lords the Archbishop of Canterbury repudiated any hostility to Italy, for which he said he cherished the warmest feelings. It was necessary to pay regard to Italy’s needs, but his contention was that she should have brought her case to the League and not taken it into her own hands. The action taken by the ' League was promising. On the first occasion that the signatories to the Covenant had been called upon to uphold it they had not shrunk from the task. POSSIBLE LOSSES TO TRADE (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, October 24. The Prime Minister, questioned in the House of Commons regarding compensation for industries affected by the imposition of economic sanctions against Italy, replied that it was impossible to foretell the precise effect that sanctions imposed might have upon particular industries. The question of mutual aid to counteract any losses which might fall upon such industries was a matter for consideration by the League of Nations. The Government naturally would endeavour to secure in any such consideration that the possible losses to British trade and industries would be given their full weight. SOUTH AFRICA TAKES ACTION (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, October 24. A Geneva press message says: South Africa informed the League that it was applying the arms embargo and the financial sanctions against Italy within a week, and was also ready to apply economic sanctions on any date "which the Co-ordination Committee shall fix. The Union thus becomes the first State member to indicate in such definite terms its willingness to apply all the sanctions decisions of the League. M. LAVAL’S PEACE EFFORTS PARIS, October 24, It is understood that M. Laval’s report to the Foreign Affairs Committee referred to the possibility of new negotiations at Geneva based on reconvening the Committee of Five on October 31. It is believed that Italy is prepared fully to state her present case before the committee, but demands that the negotiations should be strictly private, as she considers that elaboration of a suitable compromise acceptable to Italy and Abyssinia is impossible if the negotiations are subject to outside interference. PEACE PROSPECTS BRIGHTER LONDON, October 25. (Received Oct. 20, at 1 a.m.) The News-Chronicle’s Rome correspondent says; “Although official circles disclaim knowledge of peace negotiations, the prolonged halt in the Italian advance is creating optimism. There is every reason to believe that Signor Mussolini has relinquished his ambition for a mandate over all Abyssinia, and what he now claims is the joining up of the Italian colonies by the cession of Ogaden, Harrar and the Tigre provinces, which he insists are not part of Abyssinia proper. It is stated that he is willing to concede Abyssinia the port of Assab. The'only hitch in this plan is that the Sanctions Committee meets at Geneva on October 31, but newspapers give prominence to a report that the meeting may be postponed to November 15 to enable the negotiations to proceed.” The Daily Telegraph’s Rome correspondent says: “Apart from other considerations, the growing realisation of the technical difficulties and the economic cost of the Abyssinian campaign is believed to lie behind Signor Mussolini’s reported peace moves. Moreover, it is now asserted that Italy never intended to conquer the whole of Abyssinia and that her avowed objects arc, first, to enforce loyal execution of the many treaties made with Abyssinia during the past 40 years; secondly, to obtain new land for colonisation and the concessions promised in the treaties; thirdly, to ensure the security of her settlers and colonial frontiers. The campaign is now believed to have reached a stage when these objects are within sight.” ATTITUDE OF LABOUR PARTY SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT (Per United Press Association) GISBORNE, October 25. The statement that the Labour Party was entirely in accord with the action of the Government in supporting the League of Nations in the Abyssinian crisis was made by Mr Walter Nash, president of the party, in the course of an address at Gisborne last > night. Though Labour in New Zealand had differed from the Government on many points, he wished to say that in this matter the party was completely and wholeheartedly with the Government. He had had the privilege of seeing the confidential documents in the hands of Cabinet relating to the crisis, Mr Nash added, and ho wished to say that he believed every step taken by the Government had been taken with a full sense of responsibility. Without thought of ultimate war, the Government had shown clearly that it was prepared to support the Covenant, oven if v.ar should come. The Labour Party hoped that Britain would continue her splendid lead to other countries.

GERMANY AND THE LEAGUE LONDON, October 25. (Received Oct. 26, at 1 a.m.) The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin correspondent says; “ There has been a striking change in the tone of the German comment on the League’s handling of the Abyssinian dispute since Sir Samuel Hoare’s speech. The Frankfurter Zeitung, a paper which is closely in touch with the Foreign Office, even declares that, should the League deal successfully with the dispute and then reform, Germany might be ready to resume membership. ‘ln all questions concerning Europe any association of nations to which Germany does not belong is necessarily of limited value. On the other hand Germany’s past has never been a policy of isolation.’ The League, however, it is declared, must first realise the necessity of making itself more attractive if it is to bring back the countries which left it, especially by keeping open the way to treaty revision.” SCHEME FOR SETTLEMENT LONDON, October 25. (Received Oct. 25, at 10 p.m.) The Times Paris correspondent, referring to a report, which was later denied, that Signor Mussolini had offered M. Laval a basis of settlement, including the establishment of concessions similar to those in China, expresses the opinion that the denial should be interpreted as indicating that the conversations have not yet reached a concrete stage. Moreover, M. Laval is not desirous of transmitting proposals, which should be directly made to Britain. Such action would not hinder his effort to reach a basis satisfying the League and Britain. The Daily Mail’s Paris correspondent says: “ Despite the denials by the Italians that the scheme for a settlement between Italy, England and France may be on general lines, it certainly exists.” The Daily Herald’s diplomatic correspondent, discounting the suggestion that Britain should withdraw battleships, says: “Britain does not consider the withdrawal of one division is sufficient in exchange for a battleship. On the contrary, she wants three divisions withdrawn.” The Times Cairo correspondent points out that the withdrawal was probably largely due to the difficulties of maintenance, as water is limited and supplies by sea are hazardous in winter time. The Daily Telegraph’s Rome correspondent says the decision not to transfer troops from Libya to East Africa is regarded as significant. AMERICA AND SANCTIONS WASHINGTON, October 24. (Received Oct. 25, at 10 p.m.) President Roosevelt conferred with Mr Cordell Hull and charted the lines of the United States reply to the League’s inquiry regarding the American position concerning sanctions. It has been indicated that a decision was reached to confine the reply to a statement of the steps the United States Government has already taken, and unless there are lastminute changes no new policy will be projected. It is also intended not to comment either way on the action taken by the League, as the United States Government intends to act independently and retain freedom of action.