EUROPE’S TURMOIL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19126, 22 September 1936, Page 12

EUROPE’S TURMOIL

' GLOOMY OUTLOOK

''' ' •’ ' V " WAR THOUGHT INEVITABLE

■MARIST BROTHER’S SURVEY

~“IE is a poor commentary on our civilisation and our Christianity that .nations are directing all the resources of- modern science towards the destruction of human life and property.” That was the summing-up of a survey of world conditions by the Rev. Brother Clement, assistant-general of the Marist Order, in an interview in Invercargill. Brother Clement, an Australian, is one of eight assistant-generals eacii of whom is allotted a certain part of the world, U[ttd his territory is most expansive, covering all the English-speaking countries with the exception of the United States. .

•Brother Clement makes a tour of the Marist Brothers’ schools every four years. He left Italy on April 20 jjnd visited Fiji and feamoa, arris ing .it Auckland at the beginning of August. .He will work back through the schools id Auckland, where the Marist Brothers :Wili assemble for a retreat, lie leaves •fdr-. Australia in January, and in September or October will continue his tour to South Africa, returning to Soutliamp ton-on-the way to his headquarters at the end of next year or early in 1938. Hd Will have been absent two years in all. He lias found the schools to bo making splendid progress in all countries. RUSSIAN IN FLUEY CL -■-“We are naturally much concerned ’with, the Spanish civil war,” Brother Cletnent said. ‘‘There are ItOO to brothers in Spain, and they are in most of the’ places where heavy lighting is taking place, so we are prepared for anything at all.” Brother Clement said he" had had correspondence from Spain, but that had now stopped, and he did hot know what might »e happening. ' 'Brother Clement attributed the rising to the fact that what were termed the rebels were making a stand against Communism, a Government which had been put there by Russian money, lie added /that for tlie past few years Russian influence had been great in Spain, and Russian money and Russian guns were being plentifully supplied. Conditions in Italy had improved wonderfully' from, both a social and religious point of view, he replied in answer to /questions regarding that country. Taxation was high, as it was in most countries. ' “Signor .Mussolini is a great statesman —to my mind, one of the greatest in the world "to-day,” said Brother Clement. “I say this although I do not approve of- the way >he does things. The people have not a great deal of liberty, but Signor Mussolini is using his autocratic powers as wisely as any autocrat can do. He--is-a strong man, and will continue to do good 1 if he can regulate his strength, but he will undo himself if, like Napoleon, he wants to rule the world A THE ABYSSINIAN MASSACRE - The visitor referred to projects carried out to improve the country’, and mentioned the draining of toe ' i'onune Marshes, which for years had been a scourge. Now tnvee splendid cities were built on what had been disease-breeding swamps. ' "“There is a Fascist army in Italy and a Royalist army, and neither one has a great love for the other,” Brother Clement said, in speaking of military affairs and the Abyssinian conquest. He did not agree with the methods of annexing that country, and it was only aNmassacre, for one* country with ali the resources of modern armaments was opposed to another whose only’ defence was its native courage. The moral aspect so often quoted by other countries was scarcely an argument, for all these countries had annexed colonies in exactly the same way. Sanctions,’he added, had only 'irritated Italy without doing the League of Nations any good. • “Italy will have to expand, and Germany will have to expand,” the visitor went. on. “Their populations are too great to be self contained. The whole of Europe is in a turmoil, and if 1 get back before war breaks oat 1 shall he very much surprised. ‘BUSY MUNITION FACTORIES

■'Signor Mussolini stated publicly six or eight months .ago that the munition factories were going night and day. Every nation is secretly arming, and new scientific devices are being tried and tested purely for the destruction of' life and property. We hear about a death ray and a ray for stopping engines. There was a trial of such a thing in Italy at whfch Marconi was present, but we hear nothing about- it. “All the nations are doing the same. We tu'e heading for complete disaster,and the only thing that is deterring one nation from starting the upheaval is that it does not know what the other nation has up its sleeve.”