SUPPRESSING SUBMARINE PIRACY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 203, 13 September 1937, Page 6

SUPPRESSING SUBMARINE PIRACY

'What is being termed the Nine-Power Conference at Nyon— a town on the Lake of Gcneva and 110 very great distance frorn Geneva itself — is now reported to have come to a definite decision as to the steps to be taken to suppress submarine piracy in the Meditevraneaen. So far as can be gathered froin earlier messages the nine Powers sending delegates would be Great Brilain, France, Russia, Jugo^ slavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Turkey and Egypt. Ntimerically this is a qaite imposing list, but* the same can scarcely be said of them as representing naval strength. Russia and Turkey may have fairly efficient minor fieets, but as their activities are apparently to be conhned to the Black Sea, with, presumably, the Turkish waters giving access to it frorn the Mediterranean, it is fairly obvious that the responsibility for keeping the.main Mediterranean highway safe for the world's merchant shipping to traverse is to fali entirely upon Great Britain and France, with the former, so it is said, providing 60 per cent. of the patrolling craft. So far both Italy and Germany have held altogether aloof from the conference and, though the door has seemingly been left open for them to come in, there does not appear much prospect of either availing herself of the invitation. It is, of course, Italy's abstention that is of the greater significance and moment, Germany inerely keeping 'out in compliance with the mutual understanding that each will back the other in any dStermination reached, Italy's stand is so far manifestly merely obstructive and possibly designed cliefly to create greater difficulties and embarrassments and to show a little further contempt for Great Britain, who has been the prime mover in the present proposal as she was in the futile imposition of sanctions on Italy in connection with the Abyssinian venture, Signor Mussolini's continual vogue is doubtless to display as little regard as possible for any suggestion coming from London. This is made apparent when he intimates that he might have accepted the invitation to discuss the submarine menace had it come from the Non-Intervention Committee, to which he has hitherto shpwn but very scant loyalty. It can scarcely but be said that all due consideration has been shown to II Duce's so tendersusceptibilities. In the first place, the venue of the conference was doubtless fixed for 1 Nyon in preference to Geneva, so that there might be no j suggestion of a League of Nations atmosphere. so offensive to the Mussolini nostrils, influencing the proceedings. Then it will be seen that the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian Seas, in which Italy is more pecuharlv interested, have been excepted from the international patrol, while, as has been said, the participation of Russia, Italy* | particular bogey, has been confined to the Black Sea. However, it is now said that Italy's refusal to come into the scheme is to be virtually ignored and that it is to be brought into active operation almost at once. It is not difficult to foresee the possibility of "incidents" occurring that may greatly increase the tension that undoubtedly already exists as between Great Britain and Italy. British patience has evidently been stretched to the utmost by Signor Mussolini's overbearing pose, and a very great deal is going to depend on his accepting the hint to keep his submarines off the patrolled fairway so that misfortune may not befall them. It is obviously going to be no easv task to make the patrol eifective for the purpose in view and at the same time to avoid making mistakes the results of which may be altogether incalculable. If Signor Mussolini is really looking for trouble, he will now have every specious opportunity for bringing it about. It is hard to say what trqth there may be in the report reaching us on Saturday that the insurgent general Dellano had announced the- purchase of four submarines which were then in the Mediterranean. It, however, derives some colour from the story fold to-oay by an engineer of a British merchantman of having witnessed the arrival of four German _ su]pmarines at a rebel port and of having seen them a few days later leave that port with the identification marks of their nationality obliterated or concealed. The source of this latter bit of news may not be very reliable, but the trick would be altogether in keeping with Germany's suDDort of General Franco, while the pres ence of these ostensibly rebel under-water craft would necessarily create fresh complications.