SPANISH REFUGEES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22802, 30 August 1939, Page 6

SPANISH REFUGEES

TO THE’ EDITOR OT THE TRESS. Sir, —With some of the sentiments expressed by Cora Wilding I cordially agree, b.ut I must ask . her- to amend the number she gives as “the total for Spanish refugees in France. Instead of 50.000 there are 450,000, and their plight is-pitiful beyond imagination. Furthermore. 50,000 of them are threatened by the French Government with forcible return to Spain, where, there, is not the slightest doubt, General Franco awaits them with his Political Responsibilities Act, “a retroactive law which punishes acts in no way forbidden at the time they were committed, a law which establishes crimes of omission. ’ Of the Spanish refugees in France 200.000 are in military camps; in civil camps 50 per cent of the refugees are children, 40 per cent, women.. 10 per cent. men. The refugees are to be found in more than 70 departments. The principal military camps, with the numbers, ’ are as follows: —Saint Cyprien -30,000, Argeles 43,000. Barcares 70.000, Gurs 20,000, Bram 16,000, Agde 16.000. Sept Monds 16,000, Vemet 15,000. The shelters are built on very bad soil (sand in Saint Cyprien. Argeles and Agde; clay in the others!. The shelters, with few exceptions, are of reeds or corrugated iron, and except Jor Bram. where straw which is never changed is in use. the inhabitants sleep on the ground. The food is quite inadequate: beans, lentils, with some meat of low quality twice a week. In all the camps the men are losing weight and many are dying. Food is distributed in the open air. and sand penetrates everything. Table utensils—plates, spoons, etc. —are almost entirely missing. There is no tobacco. Sanitary conditions are very bad; there is a complete lack of hygiene. Most of the refugees are still wearing the clothing in which they arrived months ago. Films are due to arrive in New Zealand shortly, and will give confirmation to the above.—Yours, etc., C. P. SAUNDERS. Secretary. Christchurch Centre, New Zealand Spanish Medical Aid Committee. August 29. 1939-