ANTI-BRITISH ITALY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 77, 23 December 1937, Page 6

ANTI-BRITISH ITALY

"Position Has Been Much Exaggerated" A VISITOR'S EXPERIENCE Contrary to the general impression, popular feeling in Italy is not strongly anti-Bx'itish, according to the observations of Mr. J. R. Eooper, of England, who has spent some time travelling in Italy, and is now stai -img in Hastings. While the feeling against Great Britain may, ke states, have been bitter during the imposition of sanctions against Italy, there was now no evidence of this, and British tourists in Italy did nQt meet with. the slightest discourtesy. "I think that certain papers gave an exaggerated importance to the feeling in Italy," he remarked, "and if they say that British visitors are not j welcome in Italy, I Bhould say that it was very much the opposite. I came out that way, spending some time at Lake Como, Fiume, Venice, and Brindisi, and the number' of British people travelling in Italy this last summer was phenomenal. Oue saw them everywhere, and never once did I, or any of the people I spoke with, meet with the slightest discourtesy. ' '

Mr. Eooper remarked that much the same position applied to Germany. Another point of similarity between the two countries was the faet that r.o great a proportion of the populace was in uniform. In Italy, one encountered the Black Shirt guards, mostly young men, everywhere. In fact, in the large number of photographs taken in Italy by the visitor, the majority showed a Black Shirt guard somewhere. In Germany there was the Hitler Youth organisation, the labour corps, the Brown Shirts, and the large number of regular army soldiers, making every city martial in appearance. One great nuisance in this respect was that the army seemed to enjoy marching the streets, with bands playing, at all hours of the night — apparently marching for tlie sheer joy of it, and preventing the sleep of the populace and visitors alike.