Hokitika Guradian & Evening St THURSDAY, JULY 26th, 1918 ITALY’S PART.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1918, Page 2

Hokitika Guradian & Evening St THURSDAY, JULY 26th, 1918 ITALY’S PART.

On the occasion of the third anniversary of Italy’s entry into the war there was a happy gathering in London to commemorate the occasion when the references made to Italy’s part in the great struggle were of a warm and whole-hearted nature. It was fully recognised that Italy has rendered the Allied cause some very great and definite services. First she remained neutral on its outbreak and so stamped the authority of an ally and a confidant upon the charge that the Central Powers deliberately provoked it. Secondly, after ten months in which to weigh the issues of the conflict and the consequences of her action she hersef] entered the arena of her own free will. Thirdly, for the past- three years she has pegged down the flower of the Austrian Army and the pick of the Austrian artillery to Alpine warfare and has prevented their diversions to other fronts. "What would not the Germans give now if they could use half a million Austrian troops and two or three thousand Austrian guns against the French and the British in .France and Flanders? Fourthly, since, the very serious set-back of last autumn Italy has shown an example of unity and courage from which all the Alii os hare taken heart and bv which they all may profit. Among the speakers was Lord Robert Cecil, and his references, to the political problems in which Italy is specially interested were of peculiar importance. He hailed the recent agree-

jr.or.i between the Icr.lis*H3 aad chs Southorn Slavs as an not of real statosiiiariship and thoroughly in lino with tho aims of the Allies and ho definitely pronounced the 'liberation of the oppressed nationalities of Austria Hungary to ho part of British policy. He welcomed the recent agreement between the. Italians and the South Slavs ns an net of real statesmanship and thoroughly in line with the'nims of the Allies. On the ono side was tho German gospel of force, a belief that they • could dragoon other nations into artificial unity under alien rulers; on the other side they had the principles for which the Allies stood—freedom; the old doctrine that government:', must be carried on bv tho consent, of the governed. Much damage lias been done by the suspicion that the British Office nourished a quite unwarranted tenderness for the Dual Monarchy—commented a London paper, and Lord Robert s disavowal will, it was hoped, be accepted in Italy, as proof that the suspicion is baseless. Italy, as a matter of fact, lias no aims or interests in the | Trentino. or the Adriatic that do not

run parallel with our own Wo hope just as she hopes, that the war will end with the union of all ]talinn-speak-ing peoples under the House of Savoy : and the breakdown of the barriers that i have kept her from more than one j sphere of legitimate expansion.