Rome, Dec. 26.
France replied today to Italy's Note of December 17 denouncing the Laval-Mussolini accords signed early in 1935. The reply was handed to Count Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister, by M. Andre Francois-Poncet, French Ambassador here.
The French Note refutes all arguments put forward by Italy as reasons for denunciation of the 1935 agreement, it was learned from the most reliable sources. Paris denies responsibility if the instruments of ratification have not been exchanged, pointing out that the French Parliament ratified the accords.
Furthermore, Paris asserts that the accords have been partly enforced as 2,500 securities of the Djibouti-Addis Abbaba Railway have been transferred to, and accepted by Italy.
Another argument put forward here was that Franco never opened the negotiations provided for in the 1935 accords as due to lead to the replacement of the 1896 Convention, which settled the status of Italian settlers in Tunisia. To this, Paris replied that delays in the settlement of the Tunisian problem "have not all been caused by France alone.
Finally, Italy alleged that Trance violated the spirit of the 1935 pact when she put into effect sanctions against Rome during the Ethiopian campaign. Paris answers that its attitude during the—Italo-Ethiopian conflict was never inconsistent with either the spirit or the letter of ihe Laval Mussolini accords.
France entered collective action decided upon by the League of Nations for the defence of a League member, it asserts. France nevertheless refrained from any deliberate hostility towards Italy. On the contrary, Paris points out. it favoured and tried to harmonize duty towards the League and friendship for Italy.
The French Note submitted here today recalls that the Italian Government themselves recognized France's moderating influence at the time of the Ethiopian conflict.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.