TRAGIC PLIGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23276, 20 February 1939, Page 9

TRAGIC PLIGHT

SPANISH REFUGEES DILEMMA OF FRANCE 400,000 PEOPLE SUFFERING APPALLING PROBLEM FACED By Telegraph—-Pressi Association —Copyright (Received February 19, 5.5 p.m.) PARIS, Feb. 18 The French Cabinet is devoting to-clay to a discussion on a report by M. Besson on the appalling problem of the 400,000 Spanish refugees. After a tour of the frontier, M. Besson reported that 165,000 soldiers? were living in makeshift shelters and some in holes dug in damp sand. Thousands were subsisting only on bread and water'. Owing to lack of food and shelter, 12£ per cent of the refugees are ill. Discipline is presenting difficulties. Several murders have occurred in camps and there are continual quarrels between rival factions. The refugees include 20,000 orphans. French Government tugboats are dumping into the sea all munitions taken from Spanish Republican soldiers entering France. RAID ON MADRID 60 KILLED, 200 WOUNDED BOMB FALLS AMONG CROWD TRAP KILLS 11 NATIONALISTS (Received February 19, 5.5 p.m.) PARIS, Feb. 18 Sixty persons were killed and 200 wounded in a bombing raid on Madrid, says a despatch from Alicante. Bombs were scattered and one fell at the crowded entrance to an underground station, killing many bystanders. Eleven Nationalist soldiers were blown up by an explosion when they were attempting to make coffee in a percolator In an abandoned building, says a message from Perpignan. The percolator bad been deliberately packed with explosives. The journal Relazioni Internazionali .says Italy will not withdraw her troops from Spain until General Franco's victory is complete. His present job is "to reduce Madrid, says a message from Rome. STEAMER CAPTURED ACTION BY NATIONALISTS BRITISH PROTEST IGNORED (Received February 19, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 18 It is revealed that the Nationalists on February 5 captured the British steamer Stangrove near Barcelona and escorted her to Majorca, The Stangrove, with a crew of 15, had left Valencia on February 3 with cargo. A non-intervention observer was on board. The vessel was outside territorial waters when she was captured. Britain on February 8 strongly protested to General Franco,' but has had no reply so far. BRUSSELS SKIRMISH CONSULATE OCCUPIED Independent Cable Service BRUSSELS. Feb. 17

Eight representatives of the Spanish Nationalists occupied the Republicans' Consulate at Brussels and forced the occupants to leave after Belgium's de facto recognition of General Franco. The police later arrived at the Consulate and told the Nationalists to leave, but they refused. More police and firemen arrived aud straggled with the Nationalists, who had appeared on a balcony with a flag, which they cut up and fashioned into sashes. They were shouting: "Vive Franco." The police took them to the Palais de Justice after 8. brief skirmish. RELIEF DONATIONS BRITAIN'S £BO,OOO GENEVA, Feb. ,17 Donations for Spanish relief organised by the International Commission for the Assistance of Child Refugees have been received as follows: —Britain, £80,000: Sweden, £10,298; Australia, £2500; New' Zealand, £2000; South Africa, £2000; Stoitaerland, £1175; Norway, £1104; Ireland, £1000; Denmark, £893; India, £750; Belgium, £686; Egypt, £500; France, £300; Italy, £235; Germany, £235; and Poland, £196