PEACE HOPE

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1935, Page 7

PEACE HOPE

OFFER BY ITALY SECRET CONFERENCE FIVE-POWER COMMITTEE LIBYAN WITHDRAWAL PURELY OWN INITIATIVE By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. London, Oct. 24. M. Laval’s report on the Italo-Abys-sinian dispute to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies referred, it is understood, to the possibility of new negotiations at Geneva based on the re-convening on October 31 of the committee of five (representing Britain, France, Spain, Poland and Turkey). It is believed that Italy is prepared to fully state her present case before the committee but demands that the negotiations should be strictly private. She considers that elaboration of a suitable compromise acceptable to Italy and Abyssinia is impossible if the negotiations are subject to outside interference. An Addis Ababa message says that the Abyssinian Government is pessimistic and the opinion is general that Britain is letting down Abyssinia, which will be forced to fight unaided. A Rome message says that Italy expects the next big push to be launched on October 28, the anniversary of the Fascist march on Rome. ’ There is at present an absence at l>ondon of any concrete fact to encourage the belief that steps for a settlement of the conflict are likely to mature before October 31, when the sanctions will be applicable. . . The Admiralty, replying to an Associated Press inquiry regarding the withdrawal of two warships from the Mediterranean, said: “We know nothing about it.” The assumption is that Italy has not done sufficient in Libya to justify a British response. ' . It is confirmed that Signor Suvich, the Italian Foreign Under-Secretary, informed Sir Eric Drummond, British Ambassador at Rome, yesterday that Italy had ordered the withdrawal of a division of 20,000 Italian troops from Libya. They would probably go to Tripoli in view of the difficulties of bringing them back to Italy. The Libyan forces are at present 60,000 to 70,000, compared with 15,000 British troops in Egypt. British Government circles welcome the move but emphasise that it was taken entirely on the Italian initiative and was in no way associated with bargaining and was not accompanied by a request for a reciprocal gesture on the part of Britain. This clear statement from an authoritative quarter discounts the rumours on the Continent concerning the withdrawal of ships from the Mediterranean.