"CRUDE ATROCITY"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18974, 26 March 1936, Page 15

"CRUDE ATROCITY"

ITALIAN WARFARE SCIENTIFIC HORRORS HELLISH GAS USED PITIFUL PLEA FOP AID ,TORTURE OF INNOCENTS 'Wee. T«l. Copyright—Unitnil Press Assn.) (Reed. March 2(5, :', p.m.) LONDON, March 20. The Addis A'bubu correspondent of The Times states that contact has been re-established with the Emperor after live days.

Haile Selassie instantly inquired it' tho Powers had replied to his protest against gas, and was disappointed to hear that none bad been received.

The Emperor commented that the use of yperite was made for the first time in history !by civilised whites against blacks," and only after Italy was certain that no further sanctions would be. applied. lie asks: What can the most 'humane .and civilised African think of a Europe that is capable of such a crude atrocity? The Times' correspondent on the northern front, says that every prudent observed sees the present, as the turning point in the relations between Africa and the West, and wonders whether the appalling injury done without a Western protest can ever be repaired. Collective security in Ethiopian eyes has become too threadbare a .mask to protect them from the whites' scientific horror. WOMEN DEVISE MASK

The Addis Ababa correspondent in a further message says that a women workers' organisation lias devised a satisfactory gasmask. Working parties, led by Princess Tashai, are turning out thousands a week.

Unconfirmed reports state that the Italians, moving up the Fafan River from the south, occupied Sassabaneh. 20 miles from Dagghabur. Other sources suggest, that this is the beginning of a southern offensive in the hope of giving the Abyssinians a knock-out blow.

In a telegram to The Times, Mr. T. A. Lambie, secretary of the Ethiopian Red Cross, says: "The blinding and maiming of women and children, as well ,as soldiers, with the most dreadful of agencies, yperite, the socalled mustard gas, should cause us to ask ourselves whether the splashing of a few drops of yperite on one's clothing might, easily pass unnoticed, as the burns are not felt immediately and the odour is indeterniinitc; yet one might hours later enter a room and gas all the occupants. No adjective is strong enough to describe the hellish thing. There will be a few thousand peasants groping their way down the dark years because of a dictator they have not heard of, lint whose decree for ruthlessness put out their eyes." START OI' 1 THIRD PIIASK

The Khartum correspondent of The Times says that the Italian preparations' for an advance parallel to the Sudan frontier towards Go'ndar have been effected in complete secrecy. There is no doubt that the third phase of tiie campaign has seriously begun. One column crossed the Unilinear, marching to Nogar. A second column is marching in the direction of Bircutiin.

The magnitude of the operations is indicated by the number of troops and all types of vehicles which are passing continuously near Sudan. The nature of the western country will enable a rapid advance of mechanised troops, and developments are likely to be swifter than on the northern front. Uas Getnchd is moving towards Dabat, but it will take time to make contact.