29 OCTOBER 1932, Page 6

The amnesty to political prisoners announced by Signor Mussolini at

Milan on Tuesday represents no sudden impulse, though little or nothing was said about it in advance. But one of the Duce's closest confidants told me more than twelve months ago that the celebration of ten years of Fascism was to be marked by a general amnesty, and I am interested to find that assurance so completely justified. The fact that the amnesty is part. of a long-considered intention suggests that Fascism is, in its chief exponent's opinion, so far established that it can afford to dispense with the harsher forms of repression.