ITALY DENIES REPORTS

Southland Times, Issue 23335, 20 October 1937, Page 5

ITALY DENIES REPORTS

NUMBER OF MEN IN SPAIN OPEN CRITICISM OF LLOYD GEORGE IL DUCE’S STYLE DETECTED IN OUTBURST (United Press Assn. —Telegraph Copyright) (Received October 19, 7.55 p.m.) LONDON, October 19. An official Italian statement declares that the figures published by foreign newspapers as estimates of the number of Italian troops in the Spanish civil war are absolutely fantastic, and are creating a dangerous hysteria and a war psychosis. “Accordingly it is advisable to state officially that the Italian volunteers number about 40,000, including supply services,” says the statement. “This is the truth, • with no fear of denials from any | quarter. Valencia’s volunteers are many more.” The Italian statement specifically refers to Mr David Lloyd George’s statement as “grave and scandalous as from a former Prime Minister, whose age should recommend care.” “It is time these shameless manoeuvres ended, enabling a peaceful study of the situation,” the statement adds. “There is at present no illusion about the good faith of Italy’s opponents.” The statement caused a sensation in foreign diplomatic circles. Those wellinformed detect II Duce’s style in the bitterness of the outburst preceding the new meeting on non-intervention, although officials subsequently stated it was not intended to hinder the work of non-intervention. The Spanish Embassy in London, replying to the Italian statement, says the Government has information that there are 110,000 Italians in Spain. Loyalist commentators at Valencia scoff at the Italian token of withdrawal, as the Government’s foreigners total at the most 15,000, compared with General Franco’s 110,000.

A rebel spokesman, protesting at reports that the French may occupy Minorca, declares that the Balearic garrison is entirely Spanish and that its actions will not prejudice other Powers. The speech by Mr Lloyd George to which Italy takes exception was a follows:— _ . “As one of the senior Privy Councillors whose duty to the Sovereign and the country is to give such advice as experience indicates, I urge Mr Eden fearlessly to take the course his conscience dictates whatever his colleagues say. When he tires of being bullied and stands up for what he really believes, he will be the biggest man in Britain.” Mr Lloyd George added that nonintervention was a cruel and lying sham. Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler has sent 100,000 men to Spain. The Italians were sending troops every week ostensibly to Libya, but many were going to Spain.

EXPERTS’ DISCUSSION

A committee of experts discussed in private yesterday the proposals advanced in the report recently submitted to the non-interventionist Powers on the working of the Spanish control system. At the resumed meeting of the Chairman’s Sub-Committee of the NonIntervention Committee today the Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) will preside in the absence of the Earl of Plymouth, and the considered views of the governments represented on the committee will, it is hoped, be available on the French plan for withdrawal from Spain within as short a time as possible of non-Spanish combatants. There is no indication in the Press that it regards the outlook for the success of the French proposals with undue optimism, but The Times says the discussion was “not unhelpful.” The Daily Telegraph says that behind all the signs of dissension there is a surprising measure of agreement on fundamentals, and the only jarring note came from the Soviet.

The Daily Herald is critical of the Italian suggestion that the numbers of the withdrawals on each side shall be equal. This, says The Daily Herald, is inequitable and is known to Italy to be unacceptable, offering scope for protracted talk. The News Chronicle describes the Italian offer as a mockery of unfairness. The Manchester Guardian says that Count Grandi’s reference to equal quantity in withdrawals and to belligerent rights opens out the old dreary vista of interminable talk leading to a goal of action that indefinitely recedes. “The interventionist Powers have played this game profitably and long, but surely, as far as the Non-Intervention Committee is concerned, for the last time,” it says. BELLIGERENT RIGHTS The Times says that the granting of belligerent rights can be safely made only if it can be assumed they will be exercised with a due sense of responsibility and with a respect for international law, which as a matter of fact, has been disregarded by the- naval commanders on both sides. It involves the setting up of trustworthy prize courts and the ■ publication of official lists of contraband. These difficulties, however, could doubtless be overcome as part of the agreement for putting an end to the flow of foreign combatants and munitions into Spain. In that case serious consideration might also be given to the possibility of meeting the grievance over what Count Grandi denounced as intolerable abuse in the Mediterranean of the flags of some of the Great Powers.

A necessary preliminary, however, to any agreement is that effective steps should be taken to end once and for all the movement of munitions and reinforcements from abroad. As soon as the required undertakings have been given and the necessary control established it would be possible to arrange for withdrawal of the troops already there and to fix the stage at which it would be practicable, with proper safeguards, to grant belligerent rights to the two rival governments.