SPAIN LOOKS AHEAD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23542, 30 December 1939, Page 6

SPAIN LOOKS AHEAD

Further evidence of the estrangement that has developed between Spain and Germany is contained in the authoritative statement from Spanish sources that General Franco's Government has been discussing the prospects of obtaining a loan from Great Britain. After Franco's ultimate triumph earlier this year British and French credits were available for the task of civil reconstruction in the unhappy peninsula, but they were not available to a Government that chose to bind itself firmly to the Axis Powers. At that time, too, Germany and Italy were determined that the democracies should not regain a financial foothold in Spain. Conditions have changed since then. Like the Italians and the Japanese, the Spaniards have watched the diplomatic somersaults of Hitler and Ribbentrop with anything but enthusiasm. Spain, in particular, has had first-hand experiences of Soviet influence within her own territories and the German alliance with Russia has unquestionably caused Franco to turn his eyes away from Berlin and toward London. Here again Hitler is definitely the loser. His hopes of material aid from Russia have not materialised and, by antagonising Spain, he has lost his anticipated access to Spanish harbours, which he had clearly intended to use as bases for raids on British shipping. The turn of events will probably be welcomed by the Spaniards, who are first and foremost individualists and whose recent experiences have hardly prepared them for participation in a war which is not of their choosing. If a British loan is granted to the Spanish Government, it is safe to say that it will be for the regeneration of Spanish industry, with Britain subsequently filling the role of cash customer for many of the goods produced. In that respect, even ignoring the revulsion caused by the Moscow pact, Germany could not compete.