This telegram to Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage was from the Abyssinian Association, a British pro-Abyssinian activist group, in October 1938. The telegram praises New Zealand's stand at the League of Nations regarding the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. New Zealand emphasised that the league should take collective responsibility to oppose this invasion. The telegram refers to the fact that New Zealand supported the League of Nations' refusal to recognise the Italian annexation of Abyssinia. In contrast, the British government formally recognised that annexation in April 1938.