GATEWAY TO MADRID.

Wairarapa Age, 3 August 1936, Page 5

GATEWAY TO MADRID.

REPORTED TO BE IN REBEL HANDS. LITTLE CHANGE IN SPANISH SITUATION. GOVERNMENT HAS NO FEARS FOR CAPITAL. (Received Sunday, 6.30 p.m.) MADRID, August 1. There is little change in the situation to-day. The rebels hold Somo Sierra Pass gateway to Madrid.” Correspondents with the rebels describe the captured Government encampments as like picnic grounds, littered with empty beer bottles and contend that in the last few days the roads have been littered with abandoned cars, mostly turned in the direction of Madrid. Villages have suffered severely from sabotage. The Government, however, does not entertain fears for the capital indicating that the rebel hopes are perhaps pitched too high. Rebel artillery are placed in a position to shell Bilbao, from which the population is fleeing, as the rebels are giving no quarter. The implacable character of the civil war is further indicated by reports from Barcelona, where the population is out of hand. The Government is faced with the problem of getting thousands of armed persons, who are often intoxicated, off the streets and sending extremists and anti-rebels to Saragossa, where trained soldiers have little difficulty in mowing down youths. Only 32 survive from one contingent of 300. Escaped nuns are going from house to house asking to be taken in as maids. The morbid taste of extremists was gratified by the exhibition of a dozen corpses of nuns exposed in coffins, one of which dated 1624, rapidly decomposing in the hot sunshine. Fascists shot five hundred Compiunist prisoners in revenge for an attack on one of their leaders near Valladolid. There is now jio doubt that the army’s plans have been upset by the premature rising following the murder of Sotelo. Had it been able to wait the Government would have been compelled to ask the army to take control. Civil guards, though sympathising with the Right, preserved tradition by standing by legal government. Powerful Labour organisations have not spared themselves in fighting against such a powerful if incongruous combination. The army is faced with a tremendous task.

POLICE ORDERS. SEARCHING OF HOUSES. (Received Sunday, 6.30 p.m.) MADRID, August 1. ‘ The police have issued strict orders that no houses may be searched without instructions from the authorities. Every effort is being made to bring the mobs under control. SYMBOLIC BATTALIONS. ASSISTANCE BY COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE. (Received Sunday, 6.30 p.m.) PARIS, August 1. “Le Martin” claims that the Communist Internationale held a secret meeting and decided to assist the Spanish Government by organising “symbolic battalions” for Spain, consisting chiefly of Spanish refugees officered by French soldiers.