CRISIS IN SPAIN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14354, 20 July 1917, Page 3

CRISIS IN SPAIN.

(Australian and N.Z. CaWe Association) MADRID, July 18. Numerous arrests, including Socialists and editors, have been made and the Agrarian Club closed. • A large number of Deputies belonging to the Republican and Reformist parties bave gone to Barcelona, where a separate Parliament has been convoked. Senor Date has hurriedly gone to La Granja, where King Alfonso is having a holiday.

LONDON, July 18. The Daily Chronicle's Madrid' correspondent has transmitted indirectly a report m •' which he declared that iSpain never had a crisis co great, menacing, or obscure. Official assurances that no-' thing alarming was occurring -were contradicted by the most rigid censorship ever imposed m Spain. There was much existing uneasiness due to the newspapers being forced to silence. Fifty per cent, of the population is determined that •Spain shall remain outside the war. Yet 90 per cent, of her citizen, are suffering all the privations df combatant countries. Tlie situation has been extremely delicate since June 1. The army's fair demands for the moment were satisfied, and the Government has at last listened to the demands of the railwaymen and civil servants. These would doubtless be settled when the Government had the necessary millions m its. possession. Tlie real evil will continue if the present methods are unaltered. The desire of the provinces of [.Vi-caya, Anagon, and Andalusia is for j home rule, and it is becoming the dominant questidh. The Deputies of these provinces met at Victoria, and proclaimed the necessity for autonomous government. The problem is much graver at Catalonia, where a violent outbreak threatens. A collision has occurred between the Madrid Government and the Catalonian deputies. The first result was a miraculous fusion of tlie opposing parties, but the Catalonia meeting was' backed by tlie whole public opinion. Tlie Catalonian provinces have invited all members of Parliament to hold a consultative sitting at Barcelona on Thursday. The Government has announced that it is prepared to prevent such a meeting, even by force, and the entire country awaits tomorrow with intense interest. Rapid ■ developments are expected, and every moment is full of gravity.