ANGLO-ITALIAN AGREEMENT NOT AFFECTED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 136, 6 December 1938, Page 11

ANGLO-ITALIAN AGREEMENT NOT AFFECTED

(British Official Wireless.)' (Received December 6, 10.40 a.m.)

RUGBY, December 5,

No official information is available regarding the visit of the British Ambassador in Rome (Lord Perth) to the Foreign Minister (Count Ciano), to inquire the meaning of the demonstration in the Fascist Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, but it is understood that Count Ciano in reply said he could not accept the responsibility for spontaneous demonstrations, and that there was no question of impugning the validity of the Anglo-Italian agreement, under which the status quo in the Mediterranean is guaranteed.

The Prime Minister stated in reply to a question in the House of Commons that it was clear from the Italian Foreign Minister's reply to the inquiries by Lord Perth that the Italian Government did not associate "itself with the demonstration in the Italian Chamber on Wednesday.

He added that he saw no reason to alter the arrangements for the visit to Rome by Lord Halifax and himself.

He explained that nothing in the Anglo-Italian agreement of last April affected in any way British obligations to France, and while Tunis, Corsica, and Nice were not specifically mentioned in the negotiations prior to the agreement they were covered by Annex 1, which dealt with the maintenance of the status quo in the Mediterranean.

Mr. Chamberlain stated that the instructions given to Lord Perth on Saturday were to represent to Count Ciano that incidents such as the scene in the Chamber, unless steps were taken to correct the impression created, must have a most detrimental effect on the prospects of collaboration between the four Munich Powers.