GRAVE DISORDERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 110, 11 May 1936, Page 7

GRAVE DISORDERS

RIOTS IN HARRAR BURNING OF BUILDINGS BRITISH AID TO GOVERNOR [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, May 8. Very grave disorders broke out yesterday in the town of Harrar, in eastern Abyssinia, rioters taking possession of the streets and looting and burning premises and houses. Fireaims were I freely used. The British Consulate, where the Consul, Mr Chapman Andrews, has a guard of forty Somaliland police, has been endeavouring to help the Ethiopian Governor to keep order pending the arrival of Italian troops, who yesterday were reported to be within ten miles of the town. Up to 6 p.m. yesterday neither the Consulate nor the adjacent hospital, where Swedes and Finns are caring for a number of wounded, had been attacked, and during the night the firing diminished, but the looting and burning continued. The British Minister at Addis Ababa, ! with whom the Consul at Harrar has maintained daily touch since the situation became critical, reports that the Consul intends to remain at Harrar. Although details arc lacking, it is believed that many foreigners have sought and found refuge in the British ( Consulate. No British or other foreign casualties have been reported’ so far. Bishop Jarasseau, together with a French doctor and Maltese at Sophie, a short distance from Harrar, are reported safe. Sir Sydney Barton telegraphs that the refugees of all nationalities who , sought protection in the British Rogation at Addis Ababa during the riots which followed the departure of the . Emperor have now left the legation. ’ CAPTURE BY ITALIANS b SURRENDER OF RAS SEYOUM ROME, May 9. General Graziani has occupied Harrar and captured great quantities of j arms and ammunition. Ras Seyoum has surrendered at So- I kola. i ETHIOPIAN RAILWAY CONTROL BY ITALIANS : '

> MORE EFFICIENCY PROMISED ' LONDON, May 8. i ! An Addis Ababa message states that i the Jibuti train carries Italian soldiers as guards, indicating that Italy, with the consent of the French owners, has taken over military control of the railway. The Italians have wrought the component parts of two motor trains to Addis Ababa ready for immediate assembly, promising a great increase in the efficiency of the line. The Bank of Ethiopia has resumed business. Looters ineffectually fired a fusillade on a train conveying to Jibuti French < solders from Addis Ababa, whither they < had been dispatched last week to pro- 1 | tect the railway building.-, a mission J I which they successfully accomplished. 1 • Italian cavalry have been sent to the . relief of a German whose wife rushed breathless into camp saying that bandits were besieging her husband at a farm thirty miles from Addis Ababa. STAND BY SANCTIONS INSISTENT MEETING ' | ALBERT HALL RESOLUTION i - LEAGUE NOT DESTROYED” LONDON, Max <B. Ten thousand people, who could have boon quadrupled had accommodation allowed, attended a meeting in the Albert Hall of the League of Nations Union to consider the Abyssinian situation. A resolution was passed supporting the League and collective security, expressing indignation at the invasion of Abyssinia, and calling upon the Government to maintain sanctions until Italy is ready to accept the League Council’s peace terms. The audience cheered the chairman, j Lord Cecil, when he declared that they must not only maintain but if necessary intensify sanctions. Any other course, he declared, would be the blackest treachery. No other Abyssinian Government could be recognised while a scintilla of independence remained. The League was not destroyed. Italy was faced with the problem of holding by terrorism a vast extent of mainly barren territory. Abyssinia would not be the last victim* if she were allowed to perish. Sanctions, when backed by overwhelming force, had always stopped or prevented war. The system had failed in the present instance because France had not honoured her obligations in the early stages. No Complete Surrender The Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Mr. C. A. Attlee, in moving the resolution, said that the abandonment of sanctions would mean complete surrender. ‘‘We must not accept Signor Mussolini as dictator not only of Italy and Abyssinia, but also of the British Empire and the world,” he said. The Liberal Leader, Sir Archibald Sinclair, in seconding the resolution, declared that now that France was swinging towards the League woe betide the British Government if it betrayed the League and surrendered to Signor Mussolini. Earl Lytton declared: “We are prepared to take collective and also military action if necessary,” whereupon many people in various parts of the hall protested. BRITISH DELEGATES TO COUNCIL [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, May 8. The Foreign Secretary, Mr Anthony FJeu. who will preside at the meeting

of the League Council, which begins on Monday, will leave London by the afternoon air service for Paris and proceed direct, to Geneva by rail. The Under-Secretary, Lord Craujorne, who will also attend Monday’s meeting, will travel to Geneva to-morrow by rail. DOMINIONS’ VIEWS TALKS WITH REPRESENTATIVES I Received May 10, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, .May 9. Air. Anthony Eden discussed sanctions with the Dominion representatives, including Sir James .Parr am l Mr. S. M. Bruce. ITALIAN RULE ’PLANES DROP PAMPHLETS Received Mav 10, 7.40 p.m. ADDIS’ABABA, May 10. Italian 'planes are dropping proclamations announcing that Italy rules Ethiopia and warning AbyssiniaDs that firearms must be surrendered by midnight and inviting refugees to return to their normal occupations. Askaris arc busy throughout the country suppressing brigandage and machine-gunning pillagers. DROUILLET RETURNS SCUFFLE AND ARREST Received Alav 10, 7.5 p.m. VILLA COUBLAY, -May 9. The airman Drouillet, who attempted to fly to Abyssinia, returned. When he alighted from his ’plane gendarmes approached with a warrant for his arrest, but Drouillet’s friends intervened resulting in a scuffle, after which Drouillet was arrested. MUSSOLINI CONGRATULATED GERMAN EX-CROWN PRINCE'S MESSAGE Received Mav 10, 7.5 p.m. ROME, May 9. The ex-Crown Prince of Germany telegraphed Mussolini congratulations on his “victory in war which, despite all opposition, has been concluded to the surprise of everyone.” General Graziani has been promoted to the position of Marshal,