TALKS ARRANGED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23442, 5 March 1938, Page 13

TALKS ARRANGED

BRITAIN AND ITALY ; . ' BEGINNING EARLY NEXT WEEK DELEGATES LEAVE LONDON (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) v (British Official Wireless) ' RUGBY, Mar. 3. Lord Perth, (British Ambassador in Rome) will leave London on Saturday. It is expected that the AngloItalian talks will begin early next week. Mr Maurice Ingram (head of the Southern Department at the Foreign Office) will accompany Lord" Perth and assist in the talks. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated In the House of Commons that no British loan to the Italian' Government was contemplated. Asked for an assurance that there would be no such loan, Sir John Simon replied: "No such loan has been asked for, and I have no reason to suppose that it "will be asked for.''

Mr Chamberlain, replying to a question in the House of Commons, said he did not propose to represent to the Italian Government that the presence of Italian troops in Spain was at variance with a clause in the Anglo-Italian declarations of February, 1937, binding both countries to maintain the status quo in the Mediterranean. •Mr Chamberlain said the clause to whieh no doubt reference was made was that under which the British and Italian Governments disclaimed any desire to modify, or so far as they were concerned, to see modified the status quo as regards the national sovereignty of the territories in the Mediterranean area. He added that he thought the House would agree that the mere presence of Italian troops in Spain could hardly be said to entail a modiification of the status quo as regards the national sovereignty of Spain. A THREAT TO SUCCESS * THE' k POSITION IN SPAIN LpNDON, Mar. 3. The Associated Press says: The conversations between Lord Perth and Count Ciano will be more than exploratory as their conclusions will figure in the actual agreement. This, so far as it goes, is regarded as satisfactory, but an exceedingly troublesome if not altogether surprising situation hsis arisen, namely, a deadlock in the non-intervention proceedings which, unless it'is over- .' come, threatens to torpedo any success which might be achieved at Rome. ' ";