Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, 8th JANUARY, 1936. MR A. EDEN’S TASK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 8 January 1936, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, Bth JANUARY, 1936. MR A. EDEN’S TASK.

With the appointment of Mr Anthony Eden as Foreign Secretary, the British Government gives a gage to Parliament and the country of Mr Baldwin’s undertaking to abide by the undeviating League policy, which he set forth during the recent elections. Commentators in England see also a determination to please non-party British opinion rather than strictly Conservative ranks. Under Mr Eden the programme of increased pressure against Italy in terms of the Covenant is expected to be pursued. A survey towards military sanctions is regarded as imminent. But it is not to be presumed that Mr Eden is an enthusiast for the use of force unless in the last resort. He has a fine record in the arts : of conciliation. The honours were given to him for the peaceful settlement of the dispute in 1934- between Hungary and Yugoslavia, which might easily have led to war. In the early stages of the Italo-Abyssinian dispute last May, it was Mr Eden who conducted the negotiations with Signor Mussolini, as a result of which the Italian dictator recognised the right of the League to concern itself with the WalWal dispute, and consented to arbitration upon that affair. During the latter period of Sir John Simon’s control of the Foreign Office, Mr Eden, by his diplomatic ability in European capitals, created a reputation for persuasive ability during discussions in Paris, Berlin and Moscow. His passionate belief in the principles of the League of Nations had done much to convince the leading men in those foreign Governments of the sincerity of British League policy, and the motives animating it. The reaction to this change in the British Cabinet has in Rome been pes-

simistic, and in Paris rather salutary in discounting what are called M. Laval’s “flirtations” with Italy and Geneva. Along with a change of tone towards Signor Mussolini in the French Press comes the announcement of orders to the French Atlantic fleet for “a cruise in African waters” in January. The sting in Sir Samuel Hoare’s remark that “no other Power had moved a ship, or an aeroplane, or a soldier,” against emergency, has evidently been felt in that quarter. If the Powers of the Mediterranean follow up their replies to British enquiries with definite statements at Geneva, there should he revealed a strong bloc in the Middle Sea for support of extreme sanctions if these become necessary against Italy. Towards extreme sanctions, it seems, the next steps at Geneva must lead.