SPANISH REPUBLIC

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 118, 20 April 1931, Page 7

SPANISH REPUBLIC

PROBLEMS FOR LEADERS. FUTURE HAPPENINGS UNCERTAIN ELECTIONS SOME MONTHS HENCE (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received April 20, 9.10 a.m. LONDON, April 19. Now that Spain is a Republic, what will happen next?

The Morning Post’s special correspondent at Madrid gives a vivid picture of the Republican leaders confronted suddenly with the necessity of forming a decision upon hundreds of problems arising from the revolution. “We shall take the land,” said tlie Minister for National Economy “and divide it among the peasants, but we shall he gentlemen. There will be compensation.” Thus this Minister to another.

“Our pet projects are liberty and progress,” said the Minister of Finance, but up to the present there seems agreement only on one point, namely, the holding of the elections. These will probably take place in about five months’ time. “Nobody’ knows the extent to w’hich the Monarchical parties will hold together, or if Monarchism lias definitely ceased to be a political force.”

The correspondent expresses the opinion that the best chance for the restoration of the Monarchy, which admittedly is remote, lies in the prospects of chaos, which are- likely to ensue as soon as the political parties feel secure enough from outside danger to attack each other. CHOICE OF HOMES. The Despatch says that Alfonso is faced with an embarrassing choice of homes. He has been offered a ca.tle in Belgium by King Albert, and two palatial mansions in England by the Marquis of Londonderry and Baron Scarsdale. Mr IV. T. Cosgrave is considering inviting him to the Free State, but the Government does not possess a mansion, large enough to accommodate tlie Spanish Court. ALFONSO’S FUTURE PLANS. SOON TO DEPART FOR ENGLAND. Received April 20, 11 a.m. PARIS, April 19. Alfonso is expected to leave France early in the wreek for England. Alfonso’s stay in Paris is costing £l5O daily. THE NEW REGIME. EX-PREMIER SURRENDERS. Received April 20, 9.5 a.in. MADRID, April 19. The Government announces that the salaries allowed the exiled Royal family will be devoted to the relief of unemployment pending the establishment of a definite system.

Tlie Government lias also decided to cancel a loan that was concluded bytee preceding Government for stabilising the peseta. The ex-Premier of Spain, General Berenguer, has surrendered to the Republican authorities, but lie has not been arrested pending an inquiry into the executions that followed the revolt at Jaca. He returned from Lisbon, voluntarily proposing to visit the Republican Premier, Senor N. A. Zamora.

The Municipal Council, wishing to obliterate all memory of tlie Monarchy, is renaming many’ of the streets after noted Republicans. Spanish warships are being renamed. The Alfonso XIII. has been renamed Espana, the Queen Victoria Eugenia is now the Republics, and the Principe Alfonso lias become the Libertad. The Government is attempting to prevent the exodus of capital abroad. The Duchess Alba, the wife of the ex-Foreign Minister, was stopped oil the frontier. She was carrying a hag containing £14,000. Customs officials removed the money and placed it in a bank in her name. GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA. At Barcelona, General Macia, head of the Government of Catalonia, placed ten shillings in the savings bank oil behalf of each baby born in Barcelona on April 14, in honour of the revolution.

The Catalonian demand for Homo Rule has been settled by allowing it to adopt its own language, flag, and anthem, and to elect a constituent'assembly with a Minister at Madrid. Three Spanish Republican Ministers who flew to. Barcelona reached this agreement with General Macia. The agreement has been received with satisfaction. The term “GeneralIdad” of Catalonia, which replaces that of “Republic,” has no equivalent in English, but means a State under a Governor-General representing the Central Government, roughly corresponding to the relations of the Dominions with Britain. The arrangement will continue until the general election, and the meeting of the Constituent Assembly, when proposals will be presented for the incorporation of Catalonia as an automonous province of the Spanish Republic. UNITED STATES ATTITUDE. Received April 20, 9.10 a.in. VANCOUVER, April 19. President Hoover is withholding recognition of the new Republican Government of Spain pending the decisions of France and Britain on the same question. The President will insist that the Madrid Government discharge all its international obligations. Officials of the State Department think that if the Republicans show a disposition to seize the Roman Catholic Church property civil war is certain to result. RIOTING AT SEVILLE. LONDON, April 18. The Times’s correspondent at Gibraltar says: “The British destroyers Shamrock and Tourmaline have arrived from Seville. They report rioting there and much shooting between the police and civil guards, nnd soldiers and Communists. British sailors while ashore were forced to buy the Republican colours and cry: ‘Viva la Republican by a-crowd which surged round them.” Another report from Gibraltar states that crowds stoned the Government House at Algeeiras, where the Governor. General Muslera, has been arrested. The British Government is consulting the Dominions regarding recognition of the Spanish Republican Government. A message from Lisbon states that the Government of Portugal has recognised the Spanish Republic,