CHAMBERLAIN’S VISIT TO ROME

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20694, 3 January 1939, Page 6

CHAMBERLAIN’S VISIT TO ROME

According to a Paris commentator, France is uneasy regarding the intentions of Mr Neville Chamberlain when he visits Rome this month. “According to our information,” says the writer, “Mr Chamberlain is inclined to cede British Somaliland to Italy. He estimates that France will be obliged to follow the British example and throw' into the balance French Somaliland.” No doubt the absence of any announced set policy in conne tion with tie visit has given rise to wild speculation. Mr Chamberlain has repeatedly said that lie is not going to Rome with any fixed plan of action, and probablv the French Prime Minister is well aware of what is in his mind. Development of the British policy has not indicated the possibility of any such wholesale concessions to Italian expansion. The concessions would be dangerous from a strategic point of view and not in accord with the latest British pronouncements on the subject. Mr Chamberlain in his New Year message said: “Rearmament plans have, so progressed, although much remains to be done, that w r e can discharge our obligations to our allies, the Empire and ourselves.” Apparently it would not be on the score of inability to defend the territory that Mr Chamberlain would agree to cession. Is there any other reason why he should make such an offer 1 It is extremely unlikely that public opinion in the British Empire would countenance the suggested concession. Italy can scarcely support the claim to necessity for further territory for room to expand in view of the fact that she has recently conquered the vast region of Abyssinia. She has no legitimate right to either British or French Somaliland, and it is probable that the French writer’s suggestion comes from suspicion aroused by the absence of a definite policy in Mr Chamberlain’s visit.