3 MAY 1919, Page 2

Signor Orlando:on his journey- through Italy was applauded by enthusiastic

crowds, and at Rome last Saturday he had an enthusiastic greeting. In a speech outside the railway station he said that Italy had a grave decision to take. " Food supplies are failing us, but Italy which has known hunger has never known dishonour." On Tuesday he addressed the Chamber. He said that on April 14th President Wilson, in a memorandum, rejected the Italian claims on Dalmatia and the islands, "accorded but an incomplete liberty to Fiume, and even went so far as to break up the unity of Istria." Signor Orlando had refused these terms as " absolutely impossible." The President then agreed to reconsider the question, and the Allies sought for a compromise. While the debates were proceeding the President's manifesto was published in the Paris newspapers. The President, said Signor Orlando, had not intended to cast doubt on the full authority of the Italian delegates to represent Italy, but that was the effect of -his action. The Premier therefore asked the Italian Parliament to say whether he and his colleagues had interpreted the national will aright.