NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE opening discussion on the Italo-Abyssinian dis- pute at Geneva has left the situation certainly not Worse, and in some respects better, than might have been feared. Mr. Eden said what he was expected to say— his disclosure of the extent of the concessions proposed at Paris went even beyond expectation—and said it admir;. ably ; 1Vi, Laval identified himself more closely )vith the British view than Paris observers had thought probable; and Baron Aloisi delivered a speech which he had brought with him from Rome, and which 'therefore bore no more than an incidental and accidental relation to the French and British 'declarations which preceded it. It was a speech of rejection of all reasonable com- Promise and constituted a general indictment of Abyssinia; fortified later by the issue at Geneva of Italy's massive dossier of accusations against,. the Emperor of Ethiopia and his country. The charges demand, and unless war intervenes will receive, the fullest examination at Geneva; Some of them undoubtedly have, substance, and the rfaliperor has shown himself perfectly ready to accept external assistance, in the form of League adVisers; in the reorganisation of his administration.. But on the general question it is sufficient to observe that Ethiopia has from the first been ready to accept arbitration and Italy has not ; and that most of an indietment.which goes back forty years is discounted by the eulogy pro- bounced by Signor Mussolini's spokesman on the state 131 Ethiopia when that country was admitted to the League twelve years'.ago.
