11 OCTOBER 1935, Page 1

The brief ,delays which the scrupulous observance of Covenant prOcedure

necessarily involve need cause no more than momentary impatience. A week more 'or less during the opening of an aggressive campaign which if left to run its course unimpeded might lrist for years, is no vital matter. The League is taking momentous action in an uncharted field, and it is right to combine circum- speetion with resolution and expedition. But individual countries, including our own, are called on to takerapid . action individually, for some of the steps recommended at Geneva may require domestic legislation, and on t1 at ground alone the early assembly of Parliament is to be desired. Meanwhile there are encouraging signs. M. Laval appears to have decided after Baron Aloisi's incredible speeches on Monday that nothing remains but to go foil:vard in complete unison with thiS country and other League PoWers and bring the contest with Italy to an early'conclusion; while President Roosevelt virtual denunciation of Italy as an ag.gresor, and his public warning to American citizens that if they ship goods to Italy they dd so at their own risk, indicate that the danger of complications with the United Sta'teS'iS small. Signor Mussolini hardly seems convinced yet that the League means to'go through with what it has begun; and what impression' League action will Make on ark Italian public &Pendent \clusively on' a censored Pre's§ is problematic. However that may be, the League States have. their task to perform, and they have made a good beginning with it * . *