ROME PACT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 90, 10 January 1935, Page 9

ROME PACT

Official Statement of Provisions TERRITORY FOR ITALY No Interference in Danube Basin GERMANY & ARMAMENTS By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received January 9, 7.45 p.m.) Koine, January 8. Au official statement says that the Franco-Italian settlement gives Italy 43,009 square miles in Libya; also a tract of coast along Bab el Mandeb, while France recognises Italy’s sovereignty of the Island of Doumeirah, Italy is also to have a block of shares in the railway from Jibouti to Addis Ababa, which provides Abyssinia with a trade outlet to the Red Sea. The protocol regarding Tunis will be extended so that Italians born in Tunisia until 1965 will retain Italian nationality. Italian schools will also be maintained until 1955. The pact of non-interference in the Danubian Basin follows the lines foreshadowed, the Italian and French Governments agreeing to consult with each other and Austria, it Austria’s independence is threatened. It is finally announced that the Italian and French Governments have signed a general agreement, stating that all questions between the two countries should be liquidated. They affirm the intention to develop the traditional friendships uniting the two countries, and the Governments agree to consult each other on all questions demanding consultation. The clause regarding the Danubian Agreement states that it must be signed .by Italy, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Austria. The disarmament clause reads: “Th.; Italian and French Governments have agreed that no country should modify by unilateral act its obligations as regards armaments, and in case of such eventuality should consult each other.” ' A London cable states that the “Daily Mail’s” Rome correspondent says the two Governments agreed to regard German rearmament as illegal until a special agreement is reached on the matter between Germany and the Powers. The Rome correspondent of “The Times” points out that this is likely to render more problematical Germany’s acceptance of the Central European Pact. Signor Mussolini and high Italian officials bade farewell to M. Laval amid an atmosphere of general satisfaction at the conclusion of the Pact. Italian newspapers emphasise the value of the establishment of FrancoItalian unity and reiterate the hope that Germany will agree to join the armament discussions. -seiin BASED ON RULE OF LAW Britain’s Foreign Policy London, January 8. Mr. Anthony Eden, Lord Privy Seal, speaking at Edinburgh, described the Franco-Italian pact as an important contribution to European stability. He added: “Britain’s foreign policy is no longer based on the balance of power, but in the League of Nations and the maintenance of a collective peace system involving the abolition of force in favour of the rule of law.” YUGOSLAV CRITICISM London, January 8. Prague apd Bucharest papers welcome the Franco-Italian agreement, which the Yugoslav Press criticises, declaring that Yugoslavia should be allowed to take care of the minority population in Italian territory.