MADRID UNDER FIRE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 March 1937, Page 7

MADRID UNDER FIRE

HEAVILY BOMBARDED

INSURGENT ARTILLERY ACTIVE

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. COPYRIGHT.] '

MADRID, March 12.

The insurgents have opened a heavy bombardment on the capital, and shells are exploding in several quarters. A big insurance building was partially wrecked.

GOVT. REINFORCEMENTS

& (Recd. March 13, 8.45 a.m.)

LONDON, March 12.

“The Times” Madrid correspondent says that heavy rain slowed the fighting on the Guadalajara front. The impetus of the insurgent attack seems momentarily to have spent itself, enabling the Government to throw in strong reinforcements. It is claimed that the advance has been definitely checked on the main Madrid-Saragossa Road.

ITALIAN INTERFERENCE. ’

VALENCIA, March 12.

The Government is drawing, the attention of the League to Italy’s violation of the non-interference agreement. It states that 25,000 . Italians are engaged on the Guardarrama front.

MUNITION SHIP SEIZED.

BAYONNE, March 12.

Goverment trawlers seized from the insurgents a ship carrying arms, including ten million rounds of ammunition. |

FRENCH CRUISERS ON GUARD.

PARIS, March 12.

Following bomb attacks on French vessels, four cruisers have been ordered to guard the trade route between the French mainland and North America.

LABOUR RESOLUTION.

LONDON, March 12.

The International Labour Conference, meeting at Westminster, passed a resolution: That the International Federation of Trade Unions and Labour Movements consider they must do everything possible to ensure the Spanish Government means of defence, if non-intervention breaks down. It criticises non-intervention as one-sided, tending to favour General Franco.

SPANISH RELIEF COMMITTEE.

FOREIGN SPEAKERS EXCLUDED.

(Recd. March 13, 12.15 p.m.)

LONDON, March 12.

The “Daily Chronicle’s” political correspondent says that a number of distinguished foreign politicians, including the French Liberal, M. Basch, and' the: Belgian Deputy, Mlle. Blum (President of the women’s section of the Belgian Labour Party), who were scheduled to speak to the Spanish. Relief Committee at the Quakers’ headquarters in London, were stopped at Dover, and warned to leave Britain within 24 hours. Mlle. Blum was told that if she attended the committee meeting on Spanish relief, she would not be allowed to return to England. The Home Office explains that the non-intervention agreement made these steps necessary, but Labour members suggested, in the Commons, that the real reason was the panic fear of Communism.

It is pointed ou„t that the Relief Committee does not consist of Communists, but of people like Viscount Churchill, Sir Norman Angell, and M. Jouhaux (President of the French Trade Unions). When the Commons assembled, the Government promised to withdraw the ban on Mlle. Blum, and the news was immediately communicated to her. Mr Attlee raised the issue of principle, demanding what regulations enabled the officials to exclude distinguished visitors of all varieties of political opinion, without the Commons’ knowledge. Other members of the Commons pointed out -that the purpose of the meeting was solely concerned with the provision of food.