ITALY AND AUSTRIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 296, 6 March 1928, Page 8

ITALY AND AUSTRIA

“nEACE” j s the cry—“ Let us have peace!” Some of the greatest I intellects of this or any age are striving to find a path by which the war-wearied world may walk and avoid the horrors of armed conflict, while disputing nations wrangle, “snarling at each other’s heels.” It is a curious anomaly; the peacemakers are among the blessed, but their task seems superhuman. Were Austria the Austria of fifteen years ago, and not a disrupted and partially disarmed nation, the world might be in the throes of another conflict to-morrow. There have been dreadful wars made with far less provocation than the insult hurled at Austrian nationality by the Italian Prime Minister—an insult uttered amid the applause of deputies of his Parliament. “We are not pupils of Austria, which throughout the century lias peopled half of Europe with executioners . . .” said Mussolini. What more deadly insult could he offered an adjoining Power than to term it practically a nation of hangmen ? It is humiliating for Austria; hut it is perhaps fortunate for the world that Austria is powerless for war, or almost so. Italy, of course, is a changed Italy, considered as a military power—an alert and assertive Italy, with a strong, skilled and courageous army and a growing navy which includes the fastest cruisers afloat. Austria is practically defenceless. That Austrians are alleged to he over-stressing the disability of their nationals in Italian territory, and to be accusing the Italians of being tyrants who are swayed by a barbarian dictatorship, is no excuse for the intemperate language of Signor Mussolini. The increased strength of Italy may yet prove her weakness. If her sabre-rattling continues, she may be taken to task by a nation even stronger in armaments and resources. Germany long rattled the sword with impunity—but rattled it once too often.