ABYSSINIA STILL FIGHTS

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 100, 21 October 1938, Page 4

ABYSSINIA STILL FIGHTS

ITALY’S COSTLY TASK BIG FORCE MAINTAINED LONDON, Sept. B.—“ There is no way to describe what is happening in Abyssinia to-day other than by calling it war,” says the Manchester Guardian in an editorial in which it introduces a series of four articles, indicating a serious state of affairs, with /the Italians frequently on the defensive. “The Italians themselves are under no misapprehension about the size of their task,” it continues. “They maintain in Abyssinia, an army of 100,000 Italians and 100,000 natives, 300 planes, and 10",000 lorries. The tremendous cost of such an army of occupation, which the Italian Treasury can ill afford, is the best proof of its necessity.” i Constant Conflict. The editorial declares that the truth is that there has been continual lighting ever since the fall of Addis Ababa, first in the provinces of the southwest, and now over the whole of the Amliara Plateau. The resistance is stubborn and guerilla lighting is constantly in progress throughout twothirds of the country. “When both the extent of the military resistance and of the economic crises are taken into account,” says the paper, “it is hardly tooi much to say that Italy’s hold on the country is by no means sure. So long as Italy is not involved in war, no doubt the army of occupation will be able to hold its win, but, in the event of war in Europe or a. financial collapse in Ittalv, tiio situation would be serious. “Abyssinia is not self-supporting. All supplies must pass 'through the Suez Canal, which might be blocked. How long could the Italians lioldi out in Abyssinia without supplies of oil or Petrol