The Fate of the Southern Tyrol
The strength of feeling among all parties in this country regarding the destiny of the Southern Tyrol was demonstrated by last week's debate on the subject in the House of Commons. This province, politically Austrian, ethnically and linguistically German, was severed from Austria in 1919 in consequence of the secret Treaty of London which bribed Italy into the war ; the severance could not be, and was not, defended on any other ground. Italy, then among the victorious Powers, demanded the fulfilment of the pledge given her. Italy, being today among the defeated, it was taken for granted that the outrage, for it was nothing less, of the Southern Tyrol would immediately be rectified. But the Foreign Ministers have decided otherwise, and in the House last week Mr. Bevin held out no hope that their decision would be changed. His economic arguments based on the hydro-electric installations constructed by the Italians during their occupation of the territory were not really valid, for it is clear that the power generated must serve the needs both of the Southern Tyrol itself and of northern Italy, whether the Southern Tyrol is Austrian or Italian. The real explanation of the otherwise
inexplicable appears to lie in the Foreign Secretary's disturbing observation that since no one knows what may happen to Austria- " eastern Austria may be cut off "—it is safer for the Southern Tyrol to remain attached to Italy. The question will have to be re-dis- cussed at the Paris Conference, and Mr. Bevin gave assurances that the Tyrolese would be heard there, but none that their arguments, however cogent, would change the decision already reached. It is to be hoped, none the less, that some at least of the smaller Powers will express their views on this ill-starred deal.
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