WILD RUN ON ITALIAN BANKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 307, 30 December 1942, Page 3

WILD RUN ON ITALIAN BANKS

WIDE-SCALE HOARDING New York, Dec. 28. The recent air raids and fear of an Allied invasion on the Italian mainland from Africa have started a wild run on Italian banks, according to reports reaching banking circles here, reports the Herald-Tribune’s London correspondent. Wide-scale hoarding has also developed, leading to an expansion of paper money issue, thus swelling the inflation wlxich already has inflicted acute misery on the Italian people. Mr. Charles Politti, Governor of New York State, broadcasting to Italy, appealed to Italians to throw out their leaders. He .declared that their only hope of peace and liberty lay in a United Nations’ victory, and the American people expected Italians soon to be liberated from the yoke of Hitler and Mussolini. ITALIANS PROTEST OVER COUNTRY’S POSITION London, Dec. 28. Crown Prince Umberto and members of the Italian High Command have protested to king Victor Emmanuel that Italy is virtually undefended. They demanded in a sirongiy-worded memorandum that Italy > main attention be diverted to the defence of Corsica and Sardinia and “n restoration of Italy’s full independence and the elimination of foreign influence.” This is stated in a message from Lausanne quoted by Moscow. Among proposed measures for home security are demands that all Italian lloops he withdrawn from the Russian front, the formation of women’s battalion for coastal defence, and the calling-up of 16-year-old boys for military service.