Italy's Caretaker
Our Rome Correspondent writes: Signor Giuseppe Pella, Italy's new Prime Minister, has re- leased a wave of relief reminiscent of that which swept the Council of Europe when M. Spaak first sat down in the President's chair, rapped the desk, and put an end to the nonsense. Signor Pella addressed the Senate last week as if they were a responsible board of directors. He announced a practical programme, for his brief period of authority, to which few could take exception : a reform of the hopelessly inefficient Italian bureaucracy, and the abolition of a number of abuses that have developed under ministers for whom, political ends have obscured the humbler aim of day-to-day service to the public. Ten weeks of sterile manoeuvring by party leaders had given the dangerous impression that the fate of Italy was in the hands of a few irresponsible, political technicians. Then President Einaudi called on his disciple in economic theory, Signor Pella. After only two days, Signor Pella announced that he had formed a " business government." He brushed aside most political prejudices by insisting that his government is a transitional one, designed to give the parties time to find a way out of the paralysing balance of forces created by the general elections. He indicated that it ought to take three months. But if in that time there is no appreciable change in the East-West situation, it is difficult to see how there can be any change in the parallel line-up in Italy.
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