THE WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 9817, 22 February 1936, Page 9

THE WAR

I NO RESPITE GIVEN. I I I THE ABY'SSINIANS HARASSED. I I | ITALIAN OPERATIONS EXTENDED. | United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. ROME, Feb. 20. A communique announces that the i First Army Corps in Abyssinia has rej sumed the advance southward. The ! Air Force .does not give the enemy a respite. Marshal Badoglio’s objective now is Ekbaalazi, a natural fortress 11,000 ft. high which bars access to the motor road to Addis Ababa. How'ever, it is 250 miles distant from the capital in a straight line. The Italian Commander-in-Chief is extending his operations laterally. lie has occupied Mount Damascal and Mount Bamba, north of Gaela, and controls the road from Tembien southward, further threatening the retreat of Ras Kassa and Ras Seyoum. He is also reported to have reached Anseba, 17 miles east of Scelicot. Thus Marshal Badoglio has occupied the mountain range which marks the boundary of the great Abyssinian plateau dominating the Danakil Plain. Three hundred aeroplanes are harassing the Abyssinians as a preliminary to a drive toward Harrar and Jijiga. The Daily Mail’s Asmara correspondent reports that photographs taken from the air show Ras Mulugeta’s troops struggling southwards. Many have thrown down their arms, and the columns apparently are disintegrating. BRITONS NEED NOT BLUSH. DUCE SUPPLIES THE MYSTERY. TWO ASPECTS OF BARBARISM. United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. (Received Feb. 12, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 21. The Times in a leader headed “ The Purloined Paper” says: “All that is mysterious about the Maffey report is why the Duce published it. It may be read without a blush by Englishmen who are in nowise insensitive to national honour. “ It shows that Britain never possessed a selfish sectional interest to defend in Abyssinia; also, that Britain, so far from waving the Duce airily on his marauding expedition, was not even in receipt of the report of the experts who were commissioned to study contingencies, till June, when the world was confronted with Rome’s manifest determination to break four treaties binding Italy against aggression. “ The disclosure will leave the Italian case in an even worse shape. Nor is it to be redeemed by the often admitted shortcomings of Abyssinia. “ There Is one barbarism of antiquity—namely, slavery, the survival of which still troubles Abyssinia. “ There is another barbarism In the twentieth century, outlawed by the consent of ail nations, including Italy—the barbarism of aggressive war. “ The ruler of Abyssinia has conspicuously striven to rid himself of the first, v.to whloh end he accepted the good offices of the League. The ruler of Italy is still glorifying the second.’*