THE CIVIL WAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 65, 26 December 1936, Page 5

THE CIVIL WAR

GRIM CHRISTMAS FOR MADRID. UNDER HEAVY BOMBARDMENT TWO LOYALIST AIR ATTACKS (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.15 a.ra.)_ MADRID, December 25. Christmas Day proved very grim for the population of Madrid who awoke to the sound of gunfire. Rebel batteries opened a heavy bombardment oil the- north of the city at daybreak and Government artillery replied. The Government ordered that Christmas should not he observed as a holiday, consequently the population is carrying out its customary tasks. A message from Avila says that a insurgent communique states that Government troops bombed Merida and Badajoz, 25 being killed and 48 wounded.

CHRISTMAS DINNER. MEAGRE FARE IN MADRID. REBEL SOLDIERS PROMISED THE FINEST. LONDON, December 23. (Received This Day, 1.20 p.m.) The National Council .of Labour has granted £10(0 for winter relief of women and children in Spain. A message from Madrid says that the city will have only meagre fare on Christmas Day, subsisting chiefly on rice and lentils. All the available meat is going to the loyalists in the trenches. Food is plentiful on the rebel side, and soldiers on the Salamanca front have been promised the finest Christmas dinner.

AID FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN UNIVERSAL APPEAL IN BRITAIN. LONDON, December 24. The Archbishop of Canterbury/ (the Most Rev. Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang) is heading an appeal for distressed women and children in Spain. It is to be launched after Christmas, and is supported by the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, the head of the Church of Scotland, the Chief Rabbi, and many persons prominent in religious, business and social life.

GERMANS SEEK TRADE.

RELATION TO FOUR-YEAR PLAN. LONDON, December 24. A special correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that German efforts to capture Spanish trade perturb British __ importers, though the threat to the orange and olive oil business is partly overcome by the suspension of the procedure for clearing trade debts. A London importer is handling one-third of the Spanish hitter orange crop—3oo,ooo cases—which are used mainly for marmalade. He is employing thousands of British workers, for the making of 80,000,000 glass jars annually is entailed. Oranges will be double their usual prices at Christmas. The Berlin correspondent of the “Daily Mail” suggests that Herr Hitler and General Goering, who is in charge of the four year plan, discussed the most important subjects with leading business men from 'all over Germany on December 18, and told them that the army’s interests must precede everything else, that Germany must produce essentials at whatever cost, and must dispense with all things which were not essential and that Germany was almost in a state of war. It was made clear that the key to the riddle was Germany’s championship of the Spanish insurgents, thus supporting the belief that there are serious German commitments in Spain.