ITALIAN POLICY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 October 1939, Page 5

ITALIAN POLICY

NO IMMEDIATE PROSPECT OF CHANGE NEW CHANGE WITH EACH NEW CRISIS. DESIRE TO REMAIN NEUTRAL. LONDON. October 4. ' In view of a recent German broadcast suggesting that Italy may take action if Britain and France-refuse the Nazi “peace” terms, prominence is given in the evening papers in Britain to an official broadcast in Rome today statdug : “There is no reason to doubt the Duce’s words in his statement at Bologna on September 1 when he said that Italy would take no initiative in military operations. There is no reason for any change.” The official German news agency has announced that the Reichstag is to meet at noon on October 6 to hear the Government’s declaration. This will probably be the occasion of Hitler’s speech. The Berlin correspondent of the “Popolo d’ltalia,” in a dispatch reprinted in all newspapers, and which therefore must be authoritative, says Herr Hitler insisted on getting all the Poles within his jurisdiction so as to offer the possibility of constituting a purely Polish State. Russia agreed to withdraw after receiving compensations of particularly strategic importance in the Baltic. It is now expected that Herr Hitler will make the constitution of a Polish State part of his peace offer. In stressing Italy’s determination to remain neutral, the writer does not intend to indicate that this is her final stand. It seems impossible that she will side with the Allies, and improbable that she will do so with Germany in the near future, he writes. That is as much as can be said. As each new crisis arrives she must make a new choice.

It is true, however, "hat the longer she stays neutral, the m re difficult it will be to abandon the safe road for the perils of partisanship. A people so individualistic and independent in thought as the Italians cannot be made to go about face overnight in the way the Germans can. If they are to be

brought into the war a whole new programme of psychological preparation must be undertaken. So far there are no signs of _ such nor are there signs that Count Ciano s visit has changed Italy's present policy.