THE SPANISH REPUBLIC.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4833, 14 April 1936, Page 4

THE SPANISH REPUBLIC.

During the five and a half years of its existence the Spanish Republic has had twenty-seven Cabinets and eightytwo Ministers. Budgets have been consistently rejected, the last being defeated because of its provision for heavier taxation on the more affluent sections of the community. For some time the Socialists boycotted the Cortes, but later linked up with the more ardent Rupublicans and Communists. The combined parties then set up a united front to the Catholic and Monarchist parties. Their programme consisted of the defence of the Republic, land reform, improvement of conditions for the peasants, protection of industries, reforms in public works management, banking and finance, social legislation, public education and State schools, and a strict adherence to the spirit of the Covenant of the League of Nations. This was quite a good platform, but one that would take more than a generation to carry out in a country like Spain. The leader of the combined parties, known as the Popular Front, is Largo Caballero, who was recently released from prison after being acquitted of fomenting the October revolt. The Catholic Party is the strongest in the Cortes and is working with the Monarchists, but the Popular Party seems to have ignored the Zamora Government, and the country is threatened with civil war. The trend of events in Spain and other countries goes to show that Rupublicanism has proved a failure in I most of them. Germany and Portugal have tried the experiment, but there have been disorders in each. The political situation in France changes every few months owing to corruption and bribery; while the political situation in the United States during the last quarter of a century is nothing that the country can be proud of. The British Constitution is one that we should be proud of. We have a Royal Family and a King who take an interest in the welfare of the people, and the present King as well as his late father was honoured and respected by all. Many other countries have been unfortunate in their rulers,

though ex-King Alfonso of Spain was not the worst of them. The outlook in Spain is critical, and while the country may not adopt Communism, it seems more than likely that it will favour a form of Socialism.