The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1940. ITALY WEIGHS HER CHANCES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 95, 24 April 1940, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1940. ITALY WEIGHS HER CHANCES

TIHE outspoken remarks of Mr. Walter Cross and Dr. Hugh Dalton during last week made it clear that the people of Great Britain were dissatisfied with the trend of events in Italy and wanted to know where Mussolini stands.

We arc a plain-dealing and a plain-speaking people, it was said, and we expect the Italians, if they are going to be neutral, to act as a neutral. There were even more pointed remarks, such as too much water could flow down the Tiber to hold within its banks, and a very blunt remark was made that Britain’s naval strength was sufficient to cope with any situation in the Mediterranean as well as in the North Sea.'

One commentator even went further and stated that Italy bad “missed the bus,” seeing that half of the German navy had been destroyed since the start of the northern adventure.

These are unusual words to be addressed to Italy by British spokesmen. For a long time Italy has been handled with kidgloves by both the British and the French Governments, who both hoped that by dissolving the axis through accommodations to Italy, the probability of an outbreak of a European conflict would be diminished and the major disaster possibly averted. There is another reason, which goes deeper into the feelings of the British people, and that is the belief that the present form of government in Italy is of a temporary nature, and that a form of government more truly based on free consent will soon take its place. It is felt to be undesirable to attack a country which is politically sick. The ties which bind the English people to the Italians are based on culture, the memory of the Risorgimenti period, and the exploits of Garibaldi, plus the fact that many highly-educated families in the two countries have intermarried. It is also felt that, left to themselves, the Italian people would express their genuine and long-standing appreciation of things British.

On the other hand, the Italian knows that the German has no love for him. The German estimate of the Italian as a fighting man is very low, being expressed in the phrase: “They are radishes, red outside and white inside.” Another truly German phrase, expressing the opinion of that country of the Italian character, is that “the axis is a marriage of convenience with a. lady (Italy) incapable of practising virtue, and such union is likely to last, as long as any other under such conditions.” Germany hates Italy for having decided that she had a better prospect of gaining some of the prizes by joining the Allies in the war of 1914-1918. It is known now that the Triple Alliance (as the alliance between Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy was called) contained a secret clause which absolved Italy from taking part if war with Great Britain was involved. The same clause appeared in the axis agreement; thus Germany could not call upon her partner to enter a war against the Allies. Italy’s financial position has been deteriorating over a number of years, and the Italian Government naturally hoped that by engaging in the joyful game of piercing the blockade she would be able to do good business with Germany. Germany, in the ordinary way, sends to Italy some 8,000,000 tons of coal out of total imports of 12,000,000 tons. Britain supplied some 2,000,000 in recent years. Italy’s idea is that she should be allowed to continue to import coal from Germany, and as this is sea borne it would have to be allowed to pass through the British sea blockade. While Britain was very accommodating in respect to' coal ships held in German ports by reason of the ice-bind of the winter, the Mistress of the Seas is unwilling to allow this traffic to continue because German coal is being used to make iron and steel, which in turn is being railed back to Germany. Britain has offered to send Italy the coal which she cannot obtain from Germany, on the condition that there is a return of a quid pro quo in iron and steel. To this Italy, however, is unwilling to agree. She wants English coal for olive oil and suchlike harmless products, a bargain which is unattractive to Great Britain. Germany can send coal by way of the Brenner Pass railway, but such transportation limits the quantity to between one and two million tons, and the operation places a further strain on Germany’s already overburdened transportation systems.

Under present circumstances, then, it is British naval strength which stands between Italy and her profits on the German trade, so Mussolini’s annoyance can be appreciated. lie has evidently been veering toward that section of Italian officialdom which leans toward the German and away from the British, and it is with the view to impressing upon him that he is not likely to go unscathed if he attempts to measure his strength against the Allies, that the very straightforward talk has been engaged in by British spokesmen over the past week.