ITALIANS IN AUSTRALIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 260, 2 November 1928, Page 6

ITALIANS IN AUSTRALIA

d’HOUGH nothing apparently has been said .in retaliation by

the Press of Australia to the unbridled language of the Italian Consul at Melbourne regarding attacks on his countrymen, English newspapers have been quick to rebuke Signor Carosi. The Consul “demanded” full satisfaction for his countrymen and added that his Government was “not disposed to tolerate failure adequately to protect Italian residents,” end that if immediate action were not taken, the Italians in Australia would be forced to “protect themselves.” Referring to this outburst of impertinence, the Yorkshire Observer says the price of Signor Carelli’s foolish language should be his immediate recall, for it implies that the Australian Government is responsible for the attacks on Italians—“which is absurd.” The London Star is more emphatic, being reminded by Signor Carosi’s outburst of the attitude which Mussolini himself takes with some cl" his lesser neighbours. “But Australia is a horse of a different colour,” says the Star. “What does his high and mightiness, the Consul, propose to do, supposing Mr Bruce does not satisfy him? Is the Duee to declare war on Australia, or del's he propose to tackle the whole British Empire?”

The question is not so much what the Consul will do, as what Signor Mussolini will do to a Consul who threatens the Government and people of the foreign land he is resident in as the official representative of Italy. This Bombastes Furioso will have rendered very poor service to his countrymen in Australia, who are already unpopular because of their low standard cl? living, which enables them unfairly to compete with Australian labour. His outburst may do good, however, if it directs more intense attention to the undesirability of Southern Europeans as settlers in a British country.