Whether or not there is to be a test of power between the Austrian Nazis and Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg is not yet clear though from all reports to hand the state of alarm in Graz, in the province of Styria, suggests that something serious is under way. It is reported that the Austrian Nazis in that city, to which Dr. Arthur Seys-Inquart is now paying a visit, planned a putsch and a march on Vienna several days ago. That does not appear to have materialized owing to the action of the Federal troops who have succeeded in cutting off the city from the country side, and, at any rate for the time being, the movement appears to have been held in check. So long as the developments in Austria are of purely domestic causation it is believed unlikely that either Great Britain or France will take any action, but, if as is suggested by a French journal, there is a likelihood of outside influences again being brought to bear, in the event of it happening there is a possibility that those two nations will declare their interest in the preservation of the integrity of the Austrian State. Dr. von Schuschnigg's recent speech, important as his declarations were, has now lost much of its significance, for it is quite clear that the support which Herr Hitler has already given the Nazis has encouraged them to move much quicker than, perhaps, either he or Dr. von Schuschnigg anticipated. From the recognition by the Austrian leader of equality of rights for the Austrian Nazis, it is clear that the latter contemplate the early domination of Austria, and while Dr. von Schuschnigg's government may for a time be able to stave off the evil day, there is little indication that he will be able to do so permanently. The consultations which Dr. Seys-Inquart is having with the leaders of the Patriotic Front at Graz may have an important bearing upon future governmental trends in Aus. trio, and, unless something totally unforeseen at the moment occurs, there is every possibility that at no very distant date the government of Austria will be in the Nezi idiom.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.