GRECIAN DISTRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1944, Page 6

GRECIAN DISTRESS

URGENT NEED FOR HELP

The distressed conditions existing in Greece were described in a message recently to "The Times," London, at the time1 of Mr. Anthony Eden's visit to Athens. "Greece's financial and economic situation is parlous in the extreme," the •' report said. "Hundreds of thousands are still on the border line of starvation. There is no work because neither industry, commerce, nor agriculture can be restarted without far greater outside help than is yet forthcoming. -The severe Greek winter is approaching, and there is no fuel, no clothing,'and precious little food.:. "In the fashionable central section of Athens, conditions -do .not appear too bad. tThe" population-I6ok&*^fairly well fed and reasonably well clothed. There are. still thousands of. people roaming .'the streets obviously with nothing to do, but there are no obvious signs of distress. In the suburbs and workingclass districts conditions are horrifying, with such shocking poverty and malnutrition that it is amazing the people manage to keep alive. Unless something is done for them urgently thousands must soon die. In the country, districts and also in the islands conditions, seem to vary, with, enough food for some and none ait all for others. As Greece is almost literally without any transport it is impossible to organise distribution, which could bring some slight relief in some areas. "The Germans bled Greece white, consuming or looting all the country's food, bringing nothing, destroying wantonly or through neglect all her forms of production, utterly and deliberately ruining the nation's finances. The Government has hardly any revenue— ■ there will be no income from taxation for at least six months —and the first urgent necessity is raw materials with which to start up industry. This would! not only create revenue but would bring back,a measure of confidence to the workless population whose morale must suffer from continual idleness."