The Abyssinian Frontier Dispute The announcement that the League of
Nations Council has decided not to put the Rao-Abyssinian question on the agenda of its present extraordinary session is capable of two interpretations, and both are, in fact, put on it by different Geneva correspondents. The fact that Italy has agreed to the conciliation procedure laid down under the treaty of 1928 between the two countries may mark a genuine improvement in the outlook. It may, on the other hand, as the Abyssinians suggest, be merely a device lior spinning out negotiations while Italian troops continue to be transported across the Mediterranean. Con- ciliation would have a much better prospect of success if all such troop movements were suspended, and Signor Mussolini can have no serious apprehension about the safety of his forces in the neighbourhood of theAbyssinian frontier. Italy has very good reasons for avoiding extra-European complications at the present moment, so that the conciliation move may well be sincerely meant. But it is reassuring that the League Council will be meeting again within a month and will certainly discuss the- Abyssinian dispute then. * * * *
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