TRYING TO STOP WAR

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1935, Page 5

TRYING TO STOP WAR

BRITISH OFFERS TO ITALY DEFENCE OF THE POLICY SPEECH BY CHANCELLOR By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Rec. 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. 14. “It would be difficult to cram into one sentence a more mischievous distortion of the Abyssinian situation than ' was contained in Mr. L. C. Amery’s speech in which he said he was not prepared to send a single lad to death in Abyssinia,” said Mr. Neville Chamberlain at Glasgow. “Contrary to sending anyone to death we are trying to stop the war,” the Chancellor continued. “We professed readiness to help Italy to secure her legitimate ambitions so long as she did not resort to war, and even now when hostilities have begun we have not withdrawn those words.” Mr. Chamberlain’s speech is regarded as the opening of the election campaign, indicating some of the main themes on which the Government will seek a renewal of its mandate, including educational reforms, improvement in the health services and strengthening of the defences. Referring to the Opposition’s suggestions that the election should be deferred until the "spring, when the crisis should be ended, Mr. Chamberlain said: “Don’t make any mistake; we are at the beginning of what may be a very long period of difficulty, doubt and anxiety in which there may be recurring serious crises.” FEELERS FOR PEACE? M. LAVAL’S CONFERENCES POSSIBILITIES TESTED Rec. 11.15 p.m. London, Oct. 15. M. Laval to-day had lorfg conferences with the British and Italian Ambassadors, the former lasting two hours, says the Paris correspondent of the Daily Mail. It is considered in French diplomatic circles that the meetings are of the utmost importance regarding conciliation in the dispute between Italy and Abyssinia. It is emphasised that before leaving Geneva M. Laval indicated that he would make proposals for a peaceful solution at the moment he judged was opportune. There is reason to believe that the object of the conversations was to test the present possibilities of finding an agreed formula which might lead to the cessation of hostilities and afford a basis for settlement. Before receiving the Ambassadors M. Laval saw the papal nuncio, Monsignor Mallione, leading to the suggestion that the Vatican is taking a more active part in the efforts to bring about a settlement than hitherto, says the Paris correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. Official circles at Addis Ababa believe that the slowness of the departure of the Italian consuls is due to the desire to keep Count Vinci in the capital pending the outcome of feelers for direct peace negotiations, reports the Addis Ababa correspondent of the British United Press. He declares that such feelers have tentatively been made through the Abyssinian delegation at Geneva and by the agency of other Powers but that no direct approach has come from Rome. BAN ON ITALIAN SHIP PASSAGES CANCELLED SOUTH AFRICAN FEELING Rec. 12.30 a.m. Cape Town, Oct. 15. Most of the passengers who arrived from Durban aboard the Italian liner Duilio cancelled their passages and transferred to the Union Castle Line. The Duilio returned to Europe almost empty. Thousands cheered the burning of an effigy of Mussolini in the centre of Cape Town.