PACT STILL VALID

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19821, 24 December 1938, Page 5

PACT STILL VALID

CONTENTION IN PARIS TREATY WITH IL DUCE NORTH AFRICAN BORDERS STATUS OF NATIONALS (Klec Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) tltecd. Dec. 24, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 23. Referring to the Italian claim that the Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935 determining the frontiers of Eritrea and Libya and the status of Italian nationals in Tunis must be regarded as void since it was never ratified, Paris newspapers affirm that the Laval pact is still valid as. although it was not ratified, Italy received 2500 shares in the Djibuti-Addis Ababa railway, which should be returned in the event of the pact being deemed invalid. ; The French Chamber of Deputies to-day voted £400,000 in credits for improving the port of Djibuti and the Djibuti-Addis Ababa railway.

On March 22, 1935, by a vote of 555 to 9, the French Chamber of Deputies ratified the agreement with Italy signed in Rome on January 7. 1935. This agreement settled all questions pending between the two countries, defined exactly the boundary between Libya and the French colonial possession to the south by ceding a tract of 44.500 sqcare miles to,Libya, a strip of French Somaliland to the Italian colony Eritrea, and gave Italy a share of the railroad from Djibuti to Addis Ababa.

It was further agreed that if the independence and integrity of Austria was menaced the two Governments would take consultation as to action.

For years British diplomacy had urged Senor Mussolini to compose his quarrel with France. A FrancoItalian understanding was believed to be a necessary condition for a subsequent understanding with Germany, leading to pacification all round. By the agreement the long-standing dispute over naval parity, colonial policies, and a few other matters were patched up. But that was not all. M. Laval, the French Premier, went further than the British Government had expected. He virtually assured Signor Mussolini of French neutrality in the event of an Italian assault on Abyssinia. In return he received something which, to France, was far more valuable than the liberty of a remote black Empire: Italy agreed to withdraw her troops from the French frontier, enabling France to transfer 17 divisions to the German frontier. In addition to promising to oppose German interference in Austria, Italy agreed not to irritate the French in, North Africa.

As for the League, M. Laval and Signor Mussolini agreed that at a time when the peace of Europe was gravely threatened by Germany, no one could think of using the collective machinery against one of the staunchest supporters of "the peace" if he engaged in a "colonial expedition." That expedition was the war in Abyssinia, fought in the face of treaties to protect the integrity and sovereignty of that country.