Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1929. AFFAIRS IN SPAIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 October 1929, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1929. AFFAIRS IN SPAIN.

Cable messages have indicated that an effort is being made to put Spain upon a better footing as a nation. In 1923 Spain was in a sorry plight. Her army in Morocco had sustained disastrous defeats, and had almost been driven into the sea. The reverses were due to incompetence and corruption in high places. Communism was spreading, and no steps were being taken to check it. The separatist movement in Catalonia was pursuing its objective with a policy of rioting and incendiarism. The Civil Service was hopelessly inefficient and venal. Not a few of its members only attended their offices to draw their salaries. Strong measures were necessary. It would seem that the habit of indulging in coups runs in the de Rivera family. In 1874 the action of the present General’s father, then Minister for "War, brought about the overthrow of the republic and the restoration of the monarchy. The son exhibited an equal capacity for mastering the situation, He suddenly assumed the directorate and dissolved the Cortes, the Spanish Parliament. The people as a whole acquiesced because in this regime alone they could see the hope of better things. But he who would reform abuses by resort to Caesarism dare not brook open opposition. If General de Rivera’s sway has been milder than that of Signor Mussolini, it has not erred on the side of leniency. The Press has not been silenced, but its voice has been muted. Only abstract discussion of polities is permitted, although in special circumstances the censorship is relaxed, and _ in February the law on the subject W as tightened up. Incipient revolts have been put down with a

firm hand, and the offenders disciplined. Certain universities, the students at which engaged in de- j monstrations against the directorate, were closed. The Government dealt faithfully with insurgent Communists and Catalans. But even those who condemn General de Rivera’s methods admit that he lias stamped out many of the evils from which Spain suffered. _ Signor Mussolini intends Fascism to be a permanent system of Government. General de Rivera has always insisted that the directorate I is merely a temporary expedient, and that it will come to an end when his task is complete, lhe new Constitution is to be submitted to a plebiscite next year, and it will be interesting to see whether it is carried.