Letter from Joseph P. Walshe to Seán Murphy (Dublin),
enclosing a memorandum on arms, munitions and implements of war

Italo-Ethiopian Dispute

I am directed by the President to refer to the attached copy of the Report of the Committee of Seventeen¹ adopted by the Co-ordination Committee on yesterday. The acceptance of the Report does not involve any obligation which is not already implicitly undertaken by the acceptance of the obligations of Article 16 of the Covenant. It merely seeks to co-ordinate the action of the Governments in the execution of those obligations. Thus, it specifies categories of weapons and war material, the exportation, re-exportation or transit [of which] is to be prohibited as regards Italy and allowed as regards Ethiopia. You will observe from paragraph 5 of the Report that each Government is requested to inform the Committee through the Secretary General within the shortest possible time of the measures which it has taken in conformity with the recommendations contained in the Report.

The categories of arms and war material are in general the same as those prescribed by the Council Committee in the case of the Bolivia-Paraguay war. I am to refer you to the Secretary's minute No. 34/117 of the 31st July, 1934, to Mr. Cremins in that connection.² The President proposes that the reply to be sent to the Co-ordination Committee in pursuance of paragraph 5 of the attached Report should be in the same sense as that sent to the Chairman of the Council Committee in the Bolivia-Paraguay dispute. He would propose that the reply should be as follows:

X 'The necessary measures are in force to render the recommendations of the Committee effective in Saorstát Éireann.'

Should any detailed explanations be asked for by the Committee they would be given verbally as was suggested in the case of the Bolivia-Paraguay dispute. No such explanations were asked for in that case.

Note³

A/Secy was informed on phone today by Delegation to Assembly that reply as at X had been given to Co-ordination C'ttee.

Action taken in pursuance of Proposal No. 1
(Arms, munitions and implements of war).

Paragraph 1 of Proposal No. 1. adopted by the Committee of Co-ordination on the 11th October requires the Governments of those Members of the League which were enforcing measures to prohibit the exportation, etc. of arms, etc. to Ethiopia to annul those measures immediately. There were no measures in force in Saorstát Éireann prohibiting the exportation of arms, etc. to Ethiopia. No obligation arises therefore so far as Saorstát Éireann is concerned to annul any measures in pursuance of paragraph 1 of Proposal No. 1.

Paragraph 2 of Proposal No. 1. requires Governments to prohibit the exportation, etc. to Italy or Italian possessions of the arms, etc. mentioned in a scheduled list. Our position as regards that paragraph is as follows. There is a general law prohibiting the export of arms, etc. from Saorstát Éireann save upon the authority in writing of the Superintendent of the Garda Síochána for the district from which the arms, etc. are consigned for export. (Firearms Act 1925, section 16.) The obligation imposed by our acceptance of paragraph 2 can be carried out without any change in the law. Superintendents of the Garda Síochána have been instructed by the Minister for Justice to refuse every application made for authority to export arms to Italy or Italian possessions.

With regard to the re-exportation of arms, etc. to Italy or Italian possessions, that can also be prevented by administrative action. Arms cannot be imported without a licence granted by the Minister for Defence. If therefore a licence is not granted for the import of arms (save such as are required for use in Saorstát Éireann) the question of re-exportation of arms to Italy or Italian possessions will not arise.

The definitions of the words 'firearm' and 'ammunition', and of the expression 'prohibited weapon' in the Firearms Act 1925 are comprehensive. The scheduled list, however, of 'arms, munitions and implements of war' attached to Proposal No. 1. includes articles not included in those definitions. But the likelihood of the exportation of such articles to Italy or Italian possessions is remote. None of them is manufactured in Saorstát Éireann.