BRITISH TROOPS LEAVING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 200, 27 August 1935, Page 7

BRITISH TROOPS LEAVING

EMBARKING FOR MALTA MED (TERRANE?? FLEET STATIONED AT ISLAND WAR OFFICE DECIDES TO STRENGTHEN DEFENCES (By Telegraph —Prese Association—Copyright) Received Aug. 27, 7.35 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 26. While practically the whole of the Mediterranean Fleet is stationed at Malta, t?e War Office denies that it proposes to strengthen it. The Daily Mirror says that the liner Neuralia has been ordered to prepare to receive 1200 troops for Malta. The Neuralia ’s crew will receive a few days oft’ instead of six weeks, and the troops will embark on August 31, or possibly sooner. The War Office states that it intends to bring the Malta defences to the level approved last year.

ARMED HOSTILITY IF SANCTIONS APPLIED THREAT BY MUSSOLINI ITALY WILL LEAVE LEAGUE GUILT FOR EUROPEAN WAR [By Telegraph— Press Association—Copyright] LONDON, Aug. 25. Interviewed at the Palazzo Venezia by Mr. Ward Price, the (Daily Mail’s correspondent, -Signor Mussolini declared:— “If Geneva votes sanctions against Italy, she will immediately leave the League. Whoever .applies sanctions against Italy will meet with her armed hostility. If the League is so reckless as to expand, a colonial campaign into a European war costing tens of millions of lives the guilt would rest on the League. “Nevertheless, I am. sending a delegation to the League Council meeting on September 4 in order to place Italy’s case before the world, supported by documents and photographs. I shall challenge the League to treat Italy on the same footing as Abyssinia after it has considered the evidence. “European nations desiring peace should imitate the United States and leave us to fulfil our mission. Pacifists are the worst foes of peace, because they want to spread a conflict a*l over the world which has the character of a colonial expedition to create order where order never existed. We shall do nothing to set Europe by the ears, but others must have the same sense of responsibility. Italy has given too many proofs of her desire to co-oper-ate for her to be accused of setting a match to a powder train. She has always stood by the British Empire, r.o> only in the Great War but at other times when the world was aligned against her. “My attitude will not change unless Abyssinia gives in.” Sanction Alternatives There are possible degrees of sanctions, namely, moral, economic, or military. Moral sanction might take the form of a vote of censure, on which Italy would leave the I.eague and maintain her course, but if the sanctions included a blockade of Italian ports and the closing of the Suez Canal Signor Mussolini declares that Italy would resist with all her force by land, sea, and air, regarding the closing of the canal as a breach of the Versailles Treaty, in which a canal Statute prohibiting blockade is incorporated, but the application of sanctions necessitates a unau'.ni.>us vote not only by the Council but also by the Assembly, and this would require France’s support. Signor Mussolini asesrted that the Franco-Italian Agreement of January 7 settled all outstanding disputes in France, Tunis and elsewhere in exchange for a French pledge to leave hi s hands free in East Africa. “It will take the Italian people £0

I years to colonise and civilise Abys- : sinia, when they will be associates and ! not antagonists of the British Empire, I which is already associated with our (special rights by treaties,” bo continued. He pointed out that some of the Abyssinian arms originated in Italy, and included Mausers, machineguns, and a million rounds of ammunition which he gave Abyssinia in 1928, disapproving of any hostile intentions to her. Italy had 44,000,000 people living in a territory whose national utility was one-fifth of that of France. Only a small part of .ibya was utilisable. Abyssinia, on contrary, was three times the size oi Italy, and contained "reat tracts suitable for settlement and penetration, and would open up vast new markets and develop unexploited riche?. Healing Wounds of Adowa “The wounds of Adowa must be healed once and for all,” the Duce declared. “The financial condition of Italy does not arouse uneasiness. Our people will face any further sacrifices entailed. Can you wonder that Itaiy resents an attempt to sacrifice ner and restore the prestige of -‘he League, which failed to prevent the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo or the Gran Chaco war between two of its members? We cannot draw back now. Two hundred thousand Italian rifles in East Africa would go off of themselves. The Italian. Administration can do for Abyssinia what the British have done for India.” The Daily Mail in a leader, citing the Ward Price interview, de-dares that Italy means business and will brook no interference in a campaign which does not concern Britain. The paper discounts further talk of sanctions, which, apart from provoking war, would close Britain’s best coal markets. The article adds that the Jingoes are insane, and demands that strong action should be firmly resisted. GERMAN CLAIM AFRICAN COLONIES SOURCES OF RAW MATERIALS. BERLIN, Aug. 25. The Allgemeine Zeitung declares that if reallotment of African colonies is discussed, Germany has a right to be rememb: red, because, like Japan and Italy, she needs an extension of sources of raw materials. BECOMING A DEMAND. Received Aug. 26, 7.14 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 26. The Morning Post’s Berlin correspondent says that Germany’s proclamation of need for colonies is rapidly becoming a demand for colonies. Her arguments are being reiterated because it is understood that Britain is prepared to discuss a redistribution of African possessions, and Germany is not willing to permit her insistence on expansion to being ignored when the revision of colonies is discussed.