TENSION RELIEVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23081, 6 January 1937, Page 7

TENSION RELIEVED

THE MEDITERRANEAN PACT BRITISH PRESS COMMENT (British Official Wireless) (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) RUGBY, Jan. 4. The Times, commenting on the declaration, says the Mediterranean tension which the negotiators have successfully sought to relieve was not of British creation. It is well that the tension should have ended Let it be ended realistically without empty recriminations, but with clear and accurate memory of how it arose. The Rome agreement buries the past. Referring to the exchange of Notes, and particularly to the specific allusion to Spain, The Times says the new Italian assurance deserves special welcome because it definitely' broadens the base on which non-in-tervention can work constructively. The Morning Post says diplomatic history of recent years can record few acts deserving of such unqualified congratulations as the agreement signed between Italy and Britain. By this instrument an ancient friendship is restored which should never have been broken.

The Daily Telegraph says the Italian disavowal of any territorial ambition in regard to Spain should prove a help to negotiations that every day grow more urgent, as dangerous incidents strain the temper and lead to reprisals. The situation is one in which the Powers must act in concert, if at all. The News Chronicle says it is a startling and deplorable fact that on the very day the Italian agreement is published there should come from Spain news that 6000 more Italian “ volunteershave landed at Cadiz and have proceeded to the assistance of General Franco. In so far as this document indicates a real willingness on the part of Signor Mussolini to co-operate in working for peace in Europe, it no doubt is to be welcomed, but low is !' possible to believe that when the only practical evidence available on the point is the landing of more Italian volunteers in Spain? The Daily Herald is critical of the agreement.. There is little enough connection, u: says, between the protestations of the new pact and the realities of the Italian policy, and the professions of goodwill and friendship towards this country are the merest humbug. Deeds are more important than words. It makes the point that publication of the terms of the accord coincides with the arrival in Spain of a further strong contingent of Italian volunteers, and adds: “It is true Enough that at the moment there is no international agreement for the prohibition of sending volunteers to Spain, but it is equally true that a proposal for such a prohibition has been put forward by Britain and France and is being examined by the German and Italian Governments.”