DEAL OFF

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1935, Page 5

DEAL OFF

OIL CONCESSIONS AMERICANS’ DECISION OFFER FROM COMPANIES ONE OBSTACLE REMOVED OWNERSHIP DISCLOSED By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 10 p.m. Washington, Sept. 3. As the result of discussions he had had with the Standard and Vacuum Oil Company’s officials, Mr. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, announced to-day that the companies had informed him they would withdraw from the concessions secured to develop more than half a Ethiopia. Mr. Hull said Mr. H. E. Dundas, vicepresident, and Mr. George S. Walden, chairman of the board, informed the State Department that their corporation owned the concession granted to the African Exploration and Development Company. After discussing the question with Mr. Wallace Murray, chief of the Near Eastern division, the two officials conferred with Mr. Hull. He informed them, he told newspapermen, that the granting of the concession at this time was a serious obstacle towards the maintenance of peace, and might have extremely serious repercussions. Messrs. Dundas and Walden returned to New York and late on Tuesday informed Mr. Hull that after consultation with their associates they were prepared to terminate their part in the concession. Their representatives would inform the Emperor, Haile Selassie, that they did not desire to go forward with, the concession. Mr. Hull said his first knowledge that the Standard and Vacuum Oil Company was the owner came on Tuesday morning, when Messrs. Dundas and Murray conferred with him. Mr. Hull’s statement incorporated an explanation by Mr. Walden, who said his company and its predecessor had been engaged in tire petroleum business in Ethiopia for more than 20 years, and were interested in the- possibilities of • petroleum production there and in other countries. Ethiopia had received royalty on all commercial petroleum produced under the agreement, which provided for no payment or loan of money; nor had any been made. The dramatic news from Washington of the abandonment of the Ethiopian concession is welcomed in British official circles and the Press as removing an embarrassing complication from the Geneva discussions, says a London cable. The Ethiopian legation at a late hour had no news of the cancellation. WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY? FINDING OF COMMISSION ABYSSINIANS PLEASED Rec. 10 p.m. Paris, Sept. 3. The Italo-Ethiopian Arbitration Commission has decided that no direct responsibility attaches to Italy or Abyssinia for the Walwal clash which caused the present dispute. Observers are of the opinion that this verdict may prevent Italy using the i Walwal incident against Abyssinia at Geneva. The commission’s decision is welcome at Addis Ababa as a partial victory for Abyssinia, which never tried to make a casus belli out of the Walwal skirmish, says a cable from Addis Ababa. M. Politis, the fifth arbitrator, interviewed by the Matin, said the Italian arbitrators showed a conciliatory spirit, and the desire for appeasement was illustrated by the unanimous vote. Everything was done to preserve Italian selfrespect.