ALBANIA REJECTS MUSSOLINI’S ULTIMATUM

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 342, 28 August 1933, Page 5

ALBANIA REJECTS MUSSOLINI’S ULTIMATUM

Demand for Dismissal of High Officials BIGGEST THREAT SINCE 1914 Belgrade, Aug. 26. A crisis has arisen in Albania in consequence of King Zog rejecting four leading clauses in a seven-point ultimatum from Signor Mussolini demanding the dismissal of all Albanian high officials who are not of Italian origin, the removal of Sir Jocelyn Percival and other English officers commanding the police and their replacement by Italian police, and the re-opening of Catholic schools.

It is asserted the ultimatum represents the biggest threat any Balkan State has received since the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia which precipitated the Great War. King Zog faces the alternatives of revolution due to Albanian dissatisfaction over Italian dominance or the loss of large Italian subsidies. Rec; 7 p.m. London, Aug. 2G. One result of the recent meeting between Signor Mussolini and Dr. Dolfuss, Austrian Prime Minister, was an important agreement under which there is now a virtual trade entente between Italy, Austria and Hungary, says the Rome correspondent of the Daily Mail. It is reported that Italy has conceded Austria a free zone in the Adriatic port of Trieste, where Austria is establishing a mercantile fleet for overseas traffic.