GOOD FAITH

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1935, Page 7

GOOD FAITH

OIL CONCESSIONS ATTITUDE OF BRITAIN ADVICE TO ABYSSINIA REACTION BY POWERS FRENCH VIEWS CRITICAL By Telegraph—Press Assn.-Copyright. Rec. 5.5 p.m. London, Sept. 1. Paris comment .and French Press articles reveal how Mr. Rickett’s oil concession from Abyssinia complicates Mr. R. A. Eden’s task at Geneva. Despite the Foreign Office deniajl Britain’s good faith is questioned. < The Intransigeant bitterly likens England to a person wishing to save a poor sheep' from the wicked wolf, hoping itself to do the fleecing. Le Matin questions whether the Foreign Office statement is the whole truth. The semi-official Temps considers it strange that the British Minister at Addis- Ababa knew nothing of negotiations conducted for three years. “It will be difficult to ask the League of Nations to decide the responsibility and enforce sanctions to profit particular interests,” adds the paper. "Britain should be above suspicion.” Sir Percival Phillips in the Daily Telegraph says the foreign legations at Addis Ababa were stunned by the news, details of which were received from Europe, so great was the secrecy with which the negotiations were Conducted. Foreign experts consider the concession is a death blow to the 1906 treaty against which Abyssinia always protested. The fact is stressed that Mr. Rickett acted on behalf of an American company; consequently the concession does not involve Britain.

• “SHREWD MOVE." Those close to the Emperor declare that Haile Selassie made a shrewd move after careful consideration and is prepared to stand firm whatever is the pressure from abroad. Sir Percival has cabled the .full teott of the convention, which consists of 33 articles. In addition to the points cabled on Saturday the convention provides that the company shall train and employ Abyssinians as far as possible, that the majority of the directors shall be Americans or Abyssinians, that disputes shall be referred to arbitrators of whoni the president of the International Court of Justice at The Hague may be asked to appoint one, that the company be exempt from taxation, that the company possess full police power in'' the conceded’ area, and that it can erect railroads, :bridges, telephones and wharves which will be available to the Government on the payment of suitable fees. “The Foreign Office statement leaves no excuse for suspicion regarding British good faith,” says the Times. “It would be entirely counter to the -1906 treaty and the Anglo-Italian exchange of Notes in 1925 for Britain to accord the slightest support to the concession. Though the Emperor is not bound by these instruments, Britain’s advice is worth consideration. In any event the Foreign Office has. placed the concession in an unmistakeably true perspective as a venture by private enterprise. . , “Mr. Eden will continue his’ coolheaded, energetic efforts for peace, wisely indifferent to the miserable -stream of anti-British calumny from the Statecontrolled Press of Romo.” OFF TO BATTLEFRONT. Two or three ’ thousand picked Abyssnian troops, accompanied by a contingent of the European-trained Imperial Guard, will depart for the battlefront to-morrow, says the Addis Ababa correspondent of the News-ChrOnicle. General mobilisation orders have been issued. Every Abyssinian has been commanded to report to the local chief and register private firearms. Railway freight waggons have been commandeered. The Capetown :orrespondent of the Times says the Cape Federation of Trades supports the dockers in their refusal to load an Italian vessel with frozen beef for the Italian army in Abyssinia. Farmers are divided on the question. General Herteog will shortly consider the Federation’s written protest against .the extension of the meat sub- ’ sidy to shipments for the Italian army. General Valle, Italian Air Under-Sec-retary, told Le .Journal that 300 of the most modern Italian bombing planes will soon go to Eritrea and Somaliland. Only fighting forces would be attacked, noncombatants being warned by pamphlets ajidjoud speakers to leave their homes before the bombs fall.

Mr. Temperley, the Daily Telegraph’s military writer, says there is no doubt that Franco-Italian military conversations are proceeding on the basis of military co-operation, says a cable from Bolzano. NO OFFICIAL NOTICE t BRITAIN AWAITS DETAILS ATTITUDE TO THE DEAL British Wireless. Rugby, Sept. 1. It is stated in Official quarters that the Government had no information the concession by the Abyssinian fcs^Hflh}ove mment to British and American financial interests, and that until official confirmation has been received there is a disinclination to attach undue importance to the information. It is further pointed out that no official or unofficial support has been given Mr. Rieke tt, who negotiated the concession, by the British Government, who had made it clear on several occasions that the Government had no imperial or economic interest in Abyssinia, except Lake Tsana, and that even on that question Mr. R. A. Eden had stated in the House of Commons on July 9 that the British Government had informed the Ethiopian Government that it favoured the postponement of any agreement on the ground that it did not wish to take any step which might encourage the controversy between Italy and Abyssinia at a moment when the Government was using its best endeavours to secure a solution. The British Government, though mindful of the interests of Egypt and the Sudan in the upper basin of the Blue Nile, was content +o await a more suitable moment before pressing forward with this scheme. It stands to reason, therefore, that the last thing the British Government would have thought of doing in the present circumstances would be to give any support or encouragement to an enterprise of this character. Undisguised gratification was expressed at Rome at the British action regarding the reported concessio to Mr. Rickett. It is understood that Signor Mussolini has asked the Italian Minister at Addis Ababa to clarify the concession position. If the Emperor adheres to the concession Italy is expected to protest strongly to England and Abyssinia. Official Italian circles do not disguise

satisfaction that the concession strengthens Italy’.''; tactical position and consider it proof that Britain is not thinking so much of League principles as her own interests, thus weakening the force of an appeal for sanctions.