“HAIL DALADIER!”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 2, 4 January 1939, Page 7

“HAIL DALADIER!”

CORSICANS’ WELCOME “FRANCE IS WATCHING OVER YOU” ' COUNTRY WILL NEVER BE CEDED (By Telegraph—Pres. Association—Copyright] Received Jan. 3, 9.30 p.m. BASTIA. Jan. 3. M. Daladier, Prime Minister of France, received a wild welcome from 30,000 Corsicans when he stepped ashore. Later, in a theatre, the Mayor, recalling that 40,000 Corsicans gave their lives in the Great War, said that Corsica was ready for even greater sacrifices if France was threatened. Mr. Daladier replied: “We will remain a free France and prefer death to servitude. "Corsica is a province of France and everyone within and without France will do well to bear it in mind. It will never be ceded,” he added. A record crowd cheered, waved flags and threw up their hats as M. Daladier disembarked from the Foch at Ajacio, and took his place in a procession under a symbolic Arc de Triomphe. He also reviewed the garrison troops. M. Daladier added: "France is strong. The five warships lying in the roadstead prove it to you. They are watching over you. Fishermen can return to their boats, shepherds to their flocks, and farmers to their ploughs with a perfect sense of security.” M. Daladier departed from Bastia for Bizerla. INDIGNATION IN ITALY MR. CHAMBERLAIN’S REFUSAL TO BE AN INTERMEDIARY BRITISH PAPER S VIEW OF WHAT WAS INTENDED. Received Jan. 3, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 2. The News-Chronicle, in a leader, says there is indignation in Italy because Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain, is not to mediate between Italy and France. "It would be improper for him to do so,” the leader states, “but if this is outruled, only Spain remains. What good can result from talking to Signor Mussolini about Spain? It is difficult to interpret it otherwise than as an attempt to present Mr. Chamberlain with a fait accompli, or to blackmail him into granting General Franco belligerent rights—a desperate Italian effort to end the Spanish war in favour of General Franco. “Mr. Chamberlain is now believed to be realising what many saw immediately. namely, that a Franco victory would be a deadly blow to the British Empire, but he does not appear to grasp that talks with Signor Mussolini would be useless unless and until every Italian soldier and technician was withdrawn from Spain. “To go before this condition was fulfilled would be interpreted as a sign of weakness and a triumph for the Rome-Berlin axis. Mr. Chamberlain should call off his visit,” says the paper, "but if he insists on going, let him read, ‘Will you walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly.’ ” ITALY BOYCOTTS FRENCH SOMALILAND CONSUL RETURNS TO ROME Received Jan. 2, 11 p.m. PARIS, Jan. 2. A message from Djibouti indicates that an Italian boycott has begun against French Somaliland. Forwarding agents have been instructed from Rome to expedite the transfer of all Italian goods to Addis Ababa. The Italian Consul-General at Djibouti has gone to Rome.