UNREST IN SPAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17089, 22 August 1917, Page 4

UNREST IN SPAIN

STRIKE COLLAPSING. RESTORATION OP NORMAL CONDITIONS. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. MADRID, August 20. The general strike is collapsing and many services are being resumed. The capital and other towns are" becoming normal. CATALONIA'S DEMANDS. AGAINST THE PRO-GERMANS. i The recent meeting at Barcelona of Catalonian senators and deputies, wnich asked toe Government to give administrative autonomy to all provinces and threatened to call a meeting oi members of Parliament in Barcelona it the Pafliament was not immooiatiiiy summoned by the Government, was a political event of the hrst importance, said Maurice Prax, special correspondent in Spain of the Petit Parisiwa, telegraphing from the frontier on July 6. 'Xne correspondent considers it worthy of remark that all parties were represented at the meeting. He characterised Senator Raimondo Abadal, who took the initiative m calling the meeting, as a moderate statesman and above party strifes, although a regionalist, and points out that another of the organisers, the Federalist member, Carabo, is a man of great inhuenoe, and in complete agreement with Adejanoro Lerroux, the republican chief. Suoli a combination, continues M. Prax, is of the deepest significance lie quotes Senor Lerroux as saying to him :— "Wo are going to try by legal means to recover our political rights, suspended at one of the greatest hours of the national existence. It is impossible that Parliament should not bo called upon to shoulder its responsibilities and make known its feelings." » The censorship, adds M. Prax, is absolute and pitiless. Three times were his despatches, which he insists were accurate and moderate in tone, stopDed by the Madrid censorship. This in the face of an admission by Premier Dato himself that the correspondent had never attempted to abuse his privilege of telegraphing. The exigencies of the censorship, he declares, ore such that it is impossible to write about anything of importance. The Germanophiles, he reports, flatter themselves that they have scored a great success in splitting the Liberal party, but he says that" even if the former Premier (Senor Romanones) is no longer the official chief of the party, he is incontestably the leader of true Liberal opinion. "I have against me all those who are against you," M. Prax quotes Senor Roinanones as sayine to him on Thursday. "They cannot forgive mo for having manifested plainly and publicly my resolution and my sympathies. But neverthe. less, I feel every day more certain that my policy is right and logical. My friends, may quit me; I may bo left alone, but I shall not change." Another journalist writing on the same date, said:— ".King Alfonso has discharged all his military aides, including the Chief of Staff. The Liberal party is disorganised, and the whole country is in a whirlpool of croespurposes. Catalonia demands either an autonomous government or the transfer of the lower legislative body from Madrid to Barcelona. In either caso, this would simply be complying with the chief revenue producing portion of the country, which wants to cease supporting the rest of Spain. "In short, Spain is up against the old question of State _ rights, with Catalonia taking the first position in the fight against Madrid. Ninety-nine senators and deputies approve of former Premier Romanonos's foreign policy (that Spain join the Allien), but they disagree with any interior policy which does not hold Spain for Spaniards only. "This lattor policy is partially in agreement with Catalonia, but the Catalonians [ won't oven listen to halfway measures. They I want a protective administration which will allow the expansion of north-eastern Spain."