BENEVOLENT DESPOT

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1929, Page 1

BENEVOLENT DESPOT

ITALY UNDER MUSSOLINI. “I must confess that, under that benevolent despot, Mussolini, the most marvellous results have been achieved in Italy within a comparatively short space of time,” said Sir Harold Beauchamp who arrived by the the Remuera at Auckland. Mussolini with the assistance of his fellow Fascists, by the most dramatic and far-reaching methods, had succeeded in evolving order out of chaos. The effect of his^abolition of party government and the provision he made for representation in the • Chambei of Deputies by every class of the community was that no* political section had any axo to grind, hut all were actuated by one desire only—to promote the interests of Italy. The country was now in a highly prosperous state, Sir Harold continued and the people were happy and contented. In political, social, financial and economic conditions, Italy had undergone a complete renaissance. While in Rome Sir Harold had several long conversations with the* distinguish ed Italian Senator Luigi Luiggi, a man who was not only a prominent statesman, but also a member of the University Senate and an engineer with a world-wide reputation. Luiggi told him that the present 400 members of Parliament had been elected by neaily 90 per cent of the voters, and might truly he called “the representatives of all the male Italians who worked with their brains or their hands for the welfare of Italy.”