RESTORING ITALY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 120, 23 May 1945, Page 5

RESTORING ITALY

Huge Numbers Of Displaced Persons To Move DEMANDS OP INDUSTRY Rec. Ip.m. LONDON, May 22. : Allied authorities are grappling ; with a new problem—the succouring and transporting to their homes pf streams of Italian men, women . arid children who are already begin-. ning to pour into Italy across the frontiers, chiefly from Germany, j says The Times Rome correspondent, j Some of them have walked from Berlin and Danzig to Rome. About 6000 refugees are reported to have entered the Brenner Pass in one day J alone and 30,000 have assembled in one frontier village. It is expected that at least 1,000,000 persons will have to be dealt with, and the Allied Commission for this purpose has established 40 camps : in the north. The majority of those returning were' conscripted for labour in Germany. In addition about 100,000 Italians ' who had left their homes will have to be moved from the north to the south and vice-versa. An Italian Government spokesman'; speaking in Milan, stated that five to eight years of "intensive and serious work" would be necessary to restore Italian production to its S normal levels. He added that industrial Italy's factories were among the :least damaged in Europe and': could resume production now if they , had the fuel and raw materials. | Italian production at present was .' 25 co 30 per cent below normal. fl