Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1937. NEW SPANISH CRISIS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19340, 2 June 1937, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1937. NEW SPANISH CRISIS

This week’s international incidents in Spain emphasise the grave dangers that have been inherent in the civil war ever since certain nations Jell impelled to intervene in the domestic, affairs of another country. It would be futile to attempt to minimise the intense seriousness of the situation that has been created, for an incident of this description might well be sufficient to plunge the whole world into war. Press opinion - overseas seems to be divided as to’’the rights and wrongs of the case, but : in the opinion of the average individual there appears to have been very little that was right and a long succession of actions that were undoubtedly wrong. And in this pitiful tragedy of errors there has been no wrong to compare with that committed by the Germans when they deliberately and callously shelled innocent women and children in a eompaartivcly defenceless Spanish town. That point stands out above all others, and not all the vague talk in the world can escape it. The facts leading up to the affaii are in dispute. The Spaniards allege that their aeroplanes were fired upon by a German warship and that they retaliated. The Germans claim that the reverse was the position. The known truth is that a german warship was struck by bombs—presumably dropped from a Spanish loyalist plane—and that the town of Almerin has been partially' wrecked by shells admittedly fired from German -warships. How can the second action possibly be justified by the first, even though the worst construction is plac ed upon it? Germany is not by any means the first nation to suffer loss and indignity through the action of one side or the other in fhc Spanish conflict. Warships belonging to both Great Britain and Italy had been damaged and a French commercial aeroplane had been deliberately shot down by the rebel forces, while a Spanish motor ship was sunk by n submarine fuispectedly belonging to a foreign Power.

, Each of these events resulted from foreign activity in Spanish territory, but: none of them was followed by drastic action on the part of the Governments concerned. On the con trary, in overy instance there was m: evident desire to avoid further repercussions. It remained for Germany to take precipitate action which might have had consequences tor, tragic to contemplate. There waf no waiting for an investigation into the facts, no adequate warning of what was intended, blit an impetuous attempt to avenge what was regarded as an insult, to rectify one wrong by committing another. And even if it is admitted that reprisals were justified, what can be said in defence of the methods adopted? For more than an hour five German warships demonstrated the gallantry of their brave men by standing offshore at a safe distance and shelling the people of a town w'hose only crime was that it was part of a country which for nearly a year has been rent in twain by a ghastly civil war. Anil the official communique from Berlin Ims the effrontery to talk about “a criminal attack” on one of its warships! All war is criminal, but the greatest, piece of criminality in the Spanish struggle was the shelling of Almeria by units of tho German navy; and not only because of the tragic results of the actual reprisals, but also because if was the one step above all others that was calculated to defeat the efforts of the non-intervention committee and extend the scope and the sphere of tho war. For the moment, at least, the rights and wrong of the rival causes in Spain itself can be disregarded. More important is the fact that every crisis that has occurred since the start of the war has been associated with foreign activity, and there can be little doubt that had it not been for this intervention the Avar would have ended long since. The immediate cause of the present ugly incident was the bombing of n German warship, but to ascertain the real cause it is necessary to delve a little deeper. There would have been no necessity for German warships, or any others, to be in Spanish waters had not Germany, among others, decided to take up the cudgels on the part of the Spanish rebels. Having sent her forces to Spain in large numbers and provided military aircraft with which Spnnish towns could bo wiped out and Spanish citizens brutally slaughtered she could hardly expect her warships to be welcomed with open arms. She took pnrt in tfie Spanish w.tr of her own volitipn, thinking to advance her own cause, and in these circumstances she should have been prepared to accept tho risks of war to an oven greater extent than thoso other nations which had refrained from intervention throughout. Her attitude, however, is typically Gorman, She

has no sense of justice, no sense of fairness, and no sense of common decency. In defiance of all international law anil custom, she permitted no inquiry blit took the law into her own hands and enacted reprisals on defenceless citizens, presuming to act as judge and jury in case in which she had deliberately involved herself. And this, let it be repeated, is typical of the ruthless savagery of the German regime. Having rearmed herself, site has taken the first opportunity to put her troops, her aeroplanes, and her warships into fiction, and she is not likely to hesitate to repeat her conduct whenever the occasion arises or can be created. The chief lesson of the Almeria incident is that Germany still remains the real menace to the peace of the world and her whole lino of conduct in Spain strongly reinforces the opinion that war in Europe can be averted only so long ns Germany is held in subjection.