LITTLE CHOICE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 130, 2 May 1940, Page 10

LITTLE CHOICE

■«• BRITISH SAFEGUARDS. ATTITUDE OF ITALY. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (British Official vVireless.) RUGBY, April 30. It would be unwise to attribute to the British precautions concerning Mediterranean shipping a significance greater than the nature of the measures and the authoritative explanation which has been given would warrant. It has been made clear that the pronouncements by Italians in responsible positions and the attitude of the Italian Press have been recently or such a character as to render precautions inevitable, but that they ■will not be continued any longer than is necessarv. The recent manifestations had obviously left the British authorities with little choice but to adopt safeguards dictated by normal prudence, but the decision equally obviously reflects no change in the attitude of London either to Italy or to those many questions regarding which the common interests ol Italy and Britain have been shown so often to be capable of harmonious regulation while goodwill obtains on both sides. Nor is there any recent development of the international situation which, so far as can be discerned from here, should» affect the Italian attitude or alter those fundamental considerations arising from Italy's natural and secular national interest, which would seem to guide Signor Mussolini's policy ot non-belligerency. There exists, therefore, a very lively hope among observers in London that the circumstances which have necessitated the present precautions will prove quite of a temporary character. So long as the realisation of that hope is delayed the precautions now in operation will allow more free and unhampered action ,in other activities should the necessity unfortunately arise. ALARMING REPORTS. The Mediterranean precautions announcement is regarded as a striking reply to Italy's anti-British propaganda, states a Press Association message. The Associated Press Zagreb correspondent says Yugoslavia is alarmed at reports of intensive Italian military activity near the Yugoslav frontier. The virtual suspension of German coal trains to Italy is attributed to heavy military traffic on Italian lines leading to the Yugoslav border. Railway workers returning from Italy report seeing a trainload of tanks moving up. It is also _reported that new air raid precaution shelters are being constructed at Fiume and Trieste, where the population is nervous. The Yugoslav authorities have expelled seven hundred more German tourists. German concentrations are reported near the frontier.