MADRID NOW FACING AN ENORMOUS TASK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 78, 3 April 1939, Page 9

MADRID NOW FACING AN ENORMOUS TASK.

RECONSTRUCTM. Moral And Material Ravages Of Conflict SCOURGE OF TUBERCULOSIS. Cnited Press Association.—Cojijrirht. (neeeived 32 soon.) LONDON. April 2. For the first time in 33 months, Madrid's four unshattered churches j opened. 700 priests, in hiding throughout the siegre, participating in the services. Madrid face? an enormous task of morai and material reconj straction. | Thousands in threadbare clothes are j searching in the bitter cold for "wood. Doctors report that thousands are I suffering from tuberculosis, which is at present the city's greatest scourge, j The majority of the population, ! especially the children, are showing signs J of under-nourishment. i Slowly Returning to Normal An Independent Cable Service message from Madrid states that the city is I slowly returning to normal Workmen I are tearing down barricades. an 3 there J are long queues at shops for food and j at the banks for the new Government's money, as Republican banknotes have been declared illegal Crowds are milling in the streets seeking lost relatives, and starting the j reorganisation of their private lives, while the city starts the tremendous task of repairing the ravages of war. Several persons have been arrested and sentenced to death. A decree orders all employers and emI ployees to work not later than April 8 i under the same conditions as before the revolt. Only Nationalist employers have been permitted to resume business.