STARVATION IN SPAIN.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11636, 14 August 1905, Page 4

STARVATION IN SPAIN.

Famine riots have been reported -of- lat« from Southern Spain, and it appears that the position is decidedly grave. In "smiling Andalusia," the most fertile province in Spain, practically the whole working population is in a state of semi-starva- - tion, and the cause of the trouble is undoubtedly lan&)}mo~nopoly. Andalusia ,io known to be ono of the most vfertile regions of a particularly fertile country. Its soil produces two crops yearly, and with proper attention would yield sufficient produce to maintain in comfort more than ten- times the population that is now starving. Unhappily, very nearly all the land belongs to a few wealthy families. The condition, of affairs is much the same, in this respect as that which' prevailed in France prior to the Revolution. There are no small land-owners, and .the position of the peasantry is almost jib bad as that of the serfs and slaves of the Middle Ages. . The wage of an Andalusian field labourer, who works some fifteen hours per day, is somewhat less than sixpence daily, and even when fully,, employed the poor tillers s the. sqii^jnust live a hand-to-mouth existence^ /"with _^rio opportunities of saving . money or .bf \.stecuring anything more than the Jt>are.,riecea.saries of life. Work of any kind becomes' unobtainable whenever the landed proprietors please, and at the present time, when there is ■ a serious agricultural depression in Spain, it them better to refrain from cultivating their land. Apparently they care nothing, for the suf- ■ ferings of the peasants. The Spanish .Government has been ' frequently approached in the matter, but it merely deplores the evil and places its trust in Providence. - The most it has ever done is -to send. down • soldier's to maintain order amongst the starving peasants, and to announce that „- unless the position improves it will have to take into serious consideration the ad-

_ visableness of employing the unemployed on public works. In the meantime »» spirit of anarchy is spreading amongst the peasants, and conflicts between the starving people and the troops are becoming frequent.