SPAIN'S FUTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23109, 6 August 1938, Page 26

SPAIN'S FUTURE

BELIEF IN LEADER REBUILDING COMMENCED COMMENT BY A VISITOR The idea that General Franco represents Fascism in Spain is largely responsible for the erroneous opinion most people have formed of him," said Miss G. M. s Ritchie, who passed through Auckland yesterday by the Mariposa, en route to Sydney. During 14 months touring in Europe and England, Misa Ritchie spent seven weeks in Spain and two months with a Spanish family in Bavonne.

"General Franco is fighting for Spain. He is a man of stern methods and. high ideals and has already done much Jo set that part of Spain under his control on a better and more normal footing. Spain has been full of graft and oppression for 50 years or more, and it is that oppression that General Franco's supporters are seeking to destroy. "It is nonsenue to say that ho represents Fascism. His interests are m Spain alone and although Mussolini has given his help, he has no actual interest in Spain's politics. The war is between the West an-; the East, between Christianity and barbarism, and General Franco is a staunch upholder of Christianity." Miss Ritchie described some of the developments already taking place in the areas over which General Franco was in control. Houses, hospitals, churches and streets were being rebuilt. Special arrangements were being made for the sick, those wounded m the war, and those buffering from lack of proper food. "The Spanish people sincerely believe that the end of the war will see them able, for the first time, to rebuild their country on the same modern and efficient lines as the other large European nations. They are tired of the _ years of retrogression in industry, building, science, education and manufacturing. Miss Ritchie also spent some weeks in Italy and visited many of the new public institutions and hospitals established during Mussolini's regime.