19 APRIL 1935, Page 6

Actually the statement emanated from Mr. Neville Chamberlain. The motive

for this Treasury incur- sion into the field of foreign policy remains un- revealed. It may, no doubt, have been a desire to placate Conservative isolationists, but the effect abroad could be nothing but harmful. Technically, of course, the statement was accurate—except in its emphasis and implications—but its immediate result was to elicit from Stresa the curt official comment that no attention should be paid to statements in London at a time when all the authoritative spokesmen on foreign policy were in Italy. However, the declaration is now well superseded by the conclusions of the Con- ference itself.