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the Hungarian Premier in which he said that, having heard of the reported intention to sell the arms under dispute he was of opinion that "it would be prudent" to delay such action, as the matter would shortly come before the Council for examination. To this a reply was received that the arms in question had already been broken up and sold, but that, purely as an act of courtesy, the purchasers would be asked not to remove
"the objects, for the present,' a reply which evoked a certain discreet hilarity. On 7th March, the subject was discussed at the session of the Council, and the Hungarian representative, General Tanczos, was asked to make a statement. He remarked that the relations between Hungary and certain of her neighbours were not very good, and had not been improved by the steps that the latter had recently taken. The Hungarian authorities had from the beginning declared that the wagons seized contained machine-gun parts, and that the official report gave a faithful picture of what had taken place. He then produced the waybills which he had taken the precaution to bring with him in order to prove that the material was consigned from Italy to an address in Poland, and stated that as the trucks contained war material, and were unaccompanied by a permit for transit through Hungary, they were seized as contraband by the Customs authorities and were destroyed in accordance with the Berne Convention, and the regulations of the Hungarian Government. A heated passage occurred when M. Titulescu angrily cried that he hoped the General's reference to Hungary's neighbours was merely an imprudence, and said that makes it still worse when the
latter replied that, on the contrary, it was the outcome of ripe reflection. Matters were smoothed over by reference of the affair to a Committee, and it is reported that the general opinion is that no investigation will be ordered.
No progress has been made in the settlement of the Optants dispute with Rumania, and the question is again before the Council this Session.
Italy and Yugoslavia. There continue to occur incidents which display no particular indication of any trend towards improvement in mutual relations. A Yugoslav newspaper has got hold of, and published, a document containing secret instructions to the Italian Consul-General at Ljubljana, directing him to take all measures to collect as much information as possible regarding the composition, development and results of the Yugoslav military manoeuvres confidentially reported to be The about to take place in the Italo-Yugoslav frontier zone. paper declares that there is no doubt whatever that this Italian The official is engaged in activities tantamount to espionage. circulation of a book published by an official of the Italian Legation at Belgrade has been prohibited by the authorities owing to its anti-Yugoslav tone. In reply to a contribution to an Italian review under the title of How the Italian Navy
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saved the Serbian Army," a Belgrade newspaper has published an article in which it certainly does not mince matters. The rôle of saviour alleged to have been played by Italy amounted, it is stated, to the cession, after energetic intervention of the Tsar and the French Government, of a few merchant ships for the transport of troops and refugees. The article continues: the author declares that in the course of the war, the Italian Navy executed 584 missions in which it suffered losses, but he would be unable to name any battles between the Italian fleet and the enemy, for it is well known that all the Italian losses were inflicted by their own mines on their warships which cruised in cowardly fashion off their own coast. He declares that the Italian fleet took part in the battle of 29th December, 1915, when Italian ships sank two Austrian destroyers. It is true that the Italian fleet was to have taken part in this battle, but it took to flight. At the battle was present only one Italian ship concealed behind the French torpedo-boats. Overcome by this cowardice the French Commander-in-Chief in the Adriatic declared the following day to the Italian Admiral that the Italian Fleet had better remain in harbour altogether, as up to the present. this fictitious collaboration had only hindered the joint operations of the French and British. Such was one of the numerous Italian victories,' which took place exclusively in the imagination of the Italians. This same people now wish to intimidate us with their war-like prowess. They fail, however, to see that everyone laughs at this war-like prowess and their harlequin Cæsar."
CHINA.
No important change has occurred in the civil war situation owing to the prevailing winter conditions. Elaborate pre- parations continue to be made by the Nationalists, who are concentrating at Hsuchowfu, the junction of the Lunghai and Tientsin-Pukow railways, to launch their offensive towards the end of March.
Bandits have lately been very active on the Middle Yangtze. Seven junks were held up and robbed by pirates on 10th February, 17 miles below Chenglin. One man and two girls who were captured by the pirates were subsequently released by Bee.
The River Inspector's launch was attacked by pirates on 4th February, above Chenglin, and the coxswain killed. The Chinese river supervisor and mark boats between Chenglin and Ichang have had to be withdrawn: the pirates are now removing the mark buoys and beacons to facilitate ships grounding.
Early in February, Chiang Kai-Shek visited Hsuchowfu, where it is understood negotiations took place between him, Feng Yu-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan for a combined attack on Peking.
Feng, who is dependent on outside assistance, having been dropped by the Soviet, is endeavouring to get money and
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