DISPOSAL OF ITALIAN FLEET

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24909, 24 June 1946, Page 5

DISPOSAL OF ITALIAN FLEET

“The Foreign Ministers’ deputies passed to the naval experts’ committee the task of formulating recommendations for the disposal of the Italian fleet,” says Reuter's Paris correspondent. “They were instructed to plan for its division among Greece, Jugoslavia, Britain, America, Russia, France, and Italy. Experts also are considering pre-war treaties between Italy and the individual Allied nations and a commission to supervise the furrender of Italian war Criminals.” “The decision to shelve for a year the question of the disposal of Italy’s pre-war colonies is conskiered the first undeniable major landmark in the second half of the conference,” said the correspondent in an earlier dispatch. “Although the decision is negative as an immediate solution of the colonial problem, it is significant, because it provides decisive proof that the four Great Powers are intent on preserving the framework of joint action in consultation in shaping Europe’s future. “The major incentive to the decision

may have been mutual fear of the consequences of an open breach, but the fact remains that none of the Big Four is yet ready to see Europe degenerate into a divided Continent, in which rival unco-ordinated policies would be pursued on the basis of a fundamental cleavage between the Great Powers.” “The inside facts regarding the decision of the Ministers to hold secret sessions is now revealed,” said the Paris correspondent of the “Evening News,” in an earlier message. “Mr Bevin set the ball rolling when he said: ‘I want to be able to make proposals without being tied to public pillory.’ . x , ~ “Mr Molotov strongly supported the suggestion, saying: ‘Russian newspapers have often found it difficult to catch up with the Anglo-Saxon newspapers on these conferences.’ “Mr Byrnes did not oppose or support the suggestion, but he indicated that he had found at the London conference that it was better to tell the facts.”