Oct. 5.
Too much importance should not be} attached to the alleged German official state~ ment said to have been made to Japanese correspondents in Berlin to the effect that the invasion of Great Britain had been shelved. In the first instance, it Is not clear exactly how official the utterance was, and, the second, the veracity of German statements, official or otherwise, has been such in the past as to warrant no confidence in he truth of this declaration. In any event cen for granted that the British precautions against Hitler again changing his mind and deciding upon a venture, which has 3 bewitched his imagination ever since he rose to power. It must be remembered that!
fon of Britain has all along been Hitler's pet dream, and if he fails to attempt it, it willie because his (technical exports have finally impressed upon him the enormous cost {0 Germany in lives and material wi it would involve.
What is of more importance is the report that Hitler and Mussolini are to meet in the Brenner Pass for consultation, and there is naturally much speculation as fo what they fare {0 talk about. With all the conferences which have been recently going on between representatives of the {wo governments, it would have been thought that all possible topics would by now have been exhausted. That does not appear to be the case. The!
snouneement of the tripartite alliance including Japan, made with such a flourish of trumpets, has completely failed to be impressive. It had been expected months in advance, and so proved to be the dampest of damp squibs. It does not seem to created much impression in either Ttaly Germany, and the probability is that the Leaders are meeting for the purpose of devising some new method of capturing the imagination of their own peoples, who must be wondering why the war is not yet ended according to promise, and stimulating their moral t6 face the fast approaching winter.
The Italian advance out of Libya is slow. Since he occupied Sidi Barrani, Marshal] Graziani, the alin commander-in-chief, has been content to seek 10 consolidate his position before venturing to attempt another Advance which will be much more difficult than anything he has achieved up to the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.