ARABIC BROADCAST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 44, 20 January 1938, Page 3

ARABIC BROADCAST.

CLEAR RECEPTION. LONDON, Jan. 4. Sheikli Hafiz Wahba, who is Saudi Arabian Minister, and Prince Saif ill Islam al Hussain, of Yemen, both bearded and bespectacled, and other distinguished personages arrived m luxurious cars at Broadcasting House for the first Arabic broadcast from London yesterday. They all wore the traditional Arab dress, making a picturesque sight. Sir Bernard Reilly, who is Governor of Aden, Abdal Hakki Bey, who is the Egyptian Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires, and Seyyid Rauf Bey el Cliadirst, who is Minister for Iraq, wore lounge suits. Sheikh Hafiz Wahba described the occasion as one on which the East met West. The Prince of Yemen was thrilled to be able to broadcast a greeting to liis father, “My Lord, the King of Yemen, who can hear me in his palace at Sanaa, as can many of my friends.” Hakki Bey said: “The broadcasting of facts and straight news is a fundamental condition for effective mutual understanding between the Arabic nations and Britain.” A message from Rome says that the newspaper Corner© Della Sera (Milan) says: “Britain two years ago mobilised her great navy to impress the Italians,' wdiose reply was to forge ahead. It is unlikely that the Italians will now be impressed by the mobilisation of phrases and lies, while the Arabs will find the comparison between the voice of the wireless and the whistle of bullets too eloquent for them to take London’s radio propaganda seriously.” . The Popqlo Di Roma sarcastically observes: “Mr Eden, with his usual flair, discovered the cause of the bloodshed in Palestine. He decided that it was Radio Bari (Italy), so he immediately found the remedy in. Radio Eden.” The Messaggero (Rome) asks: — “What can Daventry say that the Moslems do not know? The only new feature would be an anouncement of the recognition of the Arabs’ rights and tho news that England tired of killing, had decided to free her slaves from the yoke.”The broadcast was reported verbatim for the Ministry of Propaganda. The news bulletin, it is pointed out; in Romo, consisted almost entirely of accounts of disorder and bloodshed throughout the world, beginning with the disorders in the Egyptian Parliament, and finishing with the Spanish war. Italy was not even mentioned. Signor Gayda bitterly attacked Britain on the eve of the broadcast. “The new wireless policy,” he declares, “represents systematic hostility towards Italy and coincides with changes at the British Foreign Office, giving Mr Eden, the attacker, an excessively free hand. “It is untrue,” lie adds, “that Italy conducts anti-British propaganda by wireless among the Palestine Arabs. General insinuations do not count. Proofs are necessary.”