ITALIAN METHODS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19023, 25 May 1936, Page 6

ITALIAN METHODS

BRUTALITY TO BRITON ' INCINERATOR AS GAOL , ALLEGED ETHIOPIAN POST , TEN-YEAR-OLD ACCUSER (Elpo. Tel. Copyright —United Press Ansa.) ,Hecd. May 25. 2 p.m.) I.ON DUX. May 21. The Djibouti correspondent of The Times report-, that Warrant Officer L- .). Bunner, of the British ambulance unit ill Abyssinia, who was arrested by Italians at Diredawa last week and was to-day reported to have been released, actually made his escape from the prison ill which ho had been placed, a. small incinerator. He left the incinerator at midnight on -Monday last and scaled a wall 20ft. high, while the guards were courting Ethiopian women. Warrant Officer Bunner walked out of Diredawa barefooted, since it. was impossible to climb the wall in boots. He (ramped for three days through thorns along the railway line to Djibouti. Ho was two days without, water. lie bought a pair of sandshoes from a Somali. When he. found further progress impossible, he returned to Diredawa and collapsed in a vomiting 111 in a native but, whose owner reported the presence of a sick foreigner to the authorities. CONSUL SEEKS INQUIRY Meanwhile Iho British Consul, Mr. Chapman Andrews, was insisting on an inquiry, and Warrant Officer , Bunner was finally allowed to depart with other members "of the lied Cross, but Ilia films and documents remain in (he possession of the Italians, whose feeble attempt to pretend that Warrant Officer Bunner tried to smuggle dollars broke down when an officer at the station admitted it was a deliberate fake. The Djibouti correspondent of The Times says further that WarrantOfficer Buiincr told a remarkable story of official brutality. He was passing his luggage through the customs at Diredawa on May li> preparatory to entraining when he was told that the police commandant doubted his identity. Mr. Andrews interviewed the Italian General on Warrant-Officer Runner's behalf .and the latter returned to Harrar believing all was well. He was arrested when entering tin train on May Ki, and cross-examined for three hours through an interpreter by a staff colonel, a staff captain, and an intelligence officer, Captain Lueetti, in the presence of squads of police. DENOUNCED AS AUSTRIAN A 10-yeai'-old Abyssinian boy de nounccd htjiu as Rudolf Brunner, an I Austrian captain, and chief of tin ! Abyssinian intelligence service, as ii j such an organisation were conceivable! "Warrant-Officer Banner's persona' documents were examined. His pass | I port had preceded him to Djibouti, but j his Red Cross identification papers were given' so little credence that the passport would hardly have fared, better. Captain Lueetti. holding an imaginary 'pistol to his own head-, declared it was a matter of life and death, adding significantly. "To I morrow.'' ! The tribunal refused to call in Mr. i Andrews, declaring that he was only ( consul to Haile Selassie, and no longei |en joyed diplomatic status. The remainder of the hearing was currieo on in l.talian and was not interpreted. Warrant-Officer Bunner was refused la bed or blankets. lie was marched to a prison, namely, a suiiid inciuera for, and slept on the floor. lie wasagain interrogated on May 17, and The Times correspondent informed tinBritish authorities at Djibouti. SURPRISE AT ROME MAINTENANCE OF ARMY HALF MILLION TROOPS

ORDER IN ABYSSINIA (J'ecd. May 25, 2 p.m.) ROME, May 24. The deputy Viceroy in Abyssinia. General Graziani, has surprised Italian* living at home, who expected an ear!) demobilisation of soldiers who have not actually settled on the land in Abv • sinia, by declaring that 500,000 troops in Mast. Africa, will be maintained as Die present establishment, thus damping (he dreams of speedy family reunions. i General Graziani has issued a manifesto to the authorities at Addis Ababa announcing that the territorial oecupa lion of Abyssinia will be methodically developed. Home leave is limited to temporary furlough to'enable troops to marry and take their wives back. It*is believed that General Graziani •will found military colonies. Many unemployed rural workers in the distressed areas of Italy seek free passages to Abyssinia with their families, but much preparatory work is necessary. A feature of Siffuor Mussolini's review of the balillas representing the Roman section in the ceremonies all over Italy in which 831,399 boys and girls were drafted in a. preliminary youth corps, was a Libyan balilla, consisting of Aral) hoys, who marched past amid shrieks of applause, their band playing "Facie! ta Nera" (Little Blackface), Italy's "Tipperary."' according to which "the sweetest girl I know" lives in Addis Ababa..

LOST POSTAL PACKET PAPERS FROM LECIATI-ON (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 1.15 p.m. RTTGBY, May 23. It is now learned that what was described an h diplomatic bagi which was missing on a. journey between Addis Ababa and Djibouti was a non-confiden-tial postal packet sent from the British l.i'!.'vtion to the British Consul at Djibouti. It appears to have gone astray on the journey and efforts to find, il are continuing.

VISIT BY SELASSIE DURATION NOT KNOWN' (British Official Wireless.) . Heed, i.lo p.m. RUGBY, May 2.1. "No details arc available as to tlio duration of the residence in England of the Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile Selassie, or as to the time of the arrival of the Emperor's party. The party consists 6i eight persons.