Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1938. TAKING ITALY’S WORD FOR IT.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 November 1938, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1938. TAKING ITALY’S WORD FOR IT.

JN carrying by 345 votes, to 138 a motion that it welcomes Britain’s intention to bring the Anglo-Italian Agreement into force, the House of Commons has emphatically endorsed the policy laid down by the present British Government, and particularly by its leader, Mr Neville Chamberlain, in this and related matters. . The British Prime Minister seems to have gained this substantial measure of support and vote of confidence rather by his insistence on the necessity of pursuing a policy of appeasement than by any serious attempt to show that the conditions on which Britain undertook to implement the agreement with Italy have been satisfied.

As an essentia] preliminary condition, Britain demanded that the Spanish question should be settled, and in the debate reported yesterday Mr Chamberlin quoted his own statement, made on July 26 last, that: “If Britain thinks- Spain has ceased to be a menace to peace in Europe I think we shall regard that as a settlement of the Spanish question.”

On the facts in sight, it seems impossible to agree with Mr Chamberlain that the Spanish question has been settled, and impossible to disagree with Mr Anthony Eden s contention that the Spanish question has not been, settled. Mr Chamberlain stated, it is true, that Britain had assurances from Signor Mussolini that the remaining Italian forces of all categories would be withdrawn under the Non-Intervention Committee’s plan when it came into operation and that no further Italian forces would be sent to Spain. If these assurances are carried into effect, a long step will be taken towards settling the Spanish question, but hypothetical contingencies of this character cannot be regarded as contributing to a present settlement. As yet the Italian and German forces remaining in Spain are quite sufficient, at the most modest computation, to keep alive the danger that the totalitarian invasion of that country may be developed to the point of making it a spearhead of aggression directed at France and Britain.

Another indication of the international possibilities that centre in the Spanish situation was given yesterday in the news that an insurgent vessel flying General Franco’s flag had shelled, disabled and compelled the abandonment of°a Spanish merchant ship off the coast of Norfolk. The state of affairs thus revealed is peculiar when it is remembered that Britain has not conceded belligerent rights to General Franco, though in a judgment of the British Court of Appeal, also reported yesterday and' relating to insurgent vessels detained in Britain, the Franco Government is held to be a foreign sovereign State, immune from legal process in Britain.

Mr Chamberlain’s policy continues to assume that it is possible by making concessions to the totalitarian States to induce them to taper off or abandon their aggressive actions and designs. Speaking in the House of Commons on. Tuesday, he said on this subject:—

We shall not get far unless we get the idea that the democracies and the totalitarian States are not to be ranged against each other’in opposing camps, but that they can, if they choose, work together, not merely for the settlement of differences after they have 'arisen, but also in the consideration of a constructive programme which will facilitate the international exchange of goods and improve international relations in various ways for the good of all.

No one doubts that it is possible for the democracies and the totalitarian States to co-operate peacefully if they are alike sincere in desiring to do so. As yet, however, there is an absence of evidence that the totalitarian States have any serious thought of co-operating peacefully with the democracies. The hopes entertained by Mr Chamberlain will be tested by events. If there is any real foundation for these hopes, an actual settlement in Spain will be made possible in the near future by the withdrawal of all foreign combatants. Moreover, the British Prime Minister 'implies, in his views on the possibility of cooperation between the democracies and the totalitarian States, that the way is being opened to peaceful agreement and a mutual limitation of armaments in Western Europe. It must be hoped that he is right, but it is only too plainly apparent at the moment that he is taking a tremendous amount for granted.