Italy's adhesion to the pact prominently featured by the press here. The papers unanimously point out that the principles on which the official German-Japanese agreement was based remain unchanged, in other words that the pact is not directed against a third party and purely defensive in character.
The semi-official organ "Deutsche Diplomatisch-Politische—Korrespondenz" points out that Italy's adhesion to the pact is the logical outcome of the situation since Germany and Italy have been in agreement for a long time that the Bolshevist must be combated. The semi-official organ likewise emphasizes that the anti-Comintern pact is not directed against any state or nation but merely intended to repel the Bolshevist threat.
The _National-Socialist paper "Der Angriff" stresses that Italy's adhesion to the pact at a time when the Far East Conference is meeting at Brussels is merely a coincidence and that it would be absurd to construe a connection between these two events. The paper characterises the anti-Comintern pact as an agreement of cultural character which does not contain any political alliance clauses and is not directed against any other State. The paper, moreover, ly denies that any secret supplementary agreement has been attached to the pact—Trans-Ocean, London Query London, Nov. 7.
Newspapers here generally avoid comment on the anti-communist pact concluded between Italy, Germany end Japan yesterday, simply announcing the news under large headlines.
The "Sunday Times" wonders, vever, whether the accord does not include "some further understanding behind the pact which has a special rence to the war in the Far East, and special advantages both in China and possibly indirectly in Europe which might accrue to Germany and Italy when the war is over." The aper believes that the Sino-Japanese war has weakened the aggressive power of the three nations against the U.S.S.R. and emphasizes the fact that Great Britain will not remain indifferent if the pact is directed against British interests in the Mediterranean.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.