EUROPE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 6, 11 August 1909, Page 7

EUROPE.

General Strike in Sweden. r A general strike was proclaimed in Sweden on August 2. In consequence of this the sale of alcoholic liquor has been prohibited throughout Sweden, and the standing army has been mobilised and distributed among the chief strike (centres. The tramway and cab services in Stockholm have been suspended. Troops are how guarding the gas and electric light Works. There are 250,000 men on strike in Sweden as a result of the declaration of b general strike. The strikers have excepted from the general strike the water supply and lighting service, besides organising special Constables to assist in maintaining order. ’A compromise is expected, as all trade •nd ordinary conveniences of life are Stopped.

The Spanish War. Senator Antonio Maura, Premier of Spain, in an interview with a representative of the “Times,” stated that the Catalonian revolt ended on July 31. Out of 900 communes in the province there were disturbances in only 15. The Catalonian brigade at Melilla, in Morocco, fought extremely well. The Premier continued that General Marina, who is in charge of the operations in Morocco, would shortly be in a position to take the offensive. The “Times” Madrid correspondent reports that the rising at Barcelona was organised with extraordinary secrecy and ability. A general strike was decreed on Friday, and commenced on Monday, Barcelona being isolated by the evening. The strike movement in Madrid was nipped in the bud by the Government arresting Iglesias and other Socialist leaders, and closing the Socialist headquarters. The great majority of the strikers are honest workmen, who objected to the military expeditions. A detachment of sixty Spaniards held a blockhouse all day on Aug. 4 against a large force of Moors, who dispersed when a relief column appeared. The Spaniards charged with great dash, cheering for Spain and the King. The Moors made another midnight attack on the Spaniards, and tore up 150 yards of the railway line, before reinforcements dispersed them. Forty Spaniards were wounded in the skirmish. A balloon is reconnoitring the gorges and ravines of Mount Gurugu. The Moors have shown extraordinary skill in constructing shelters, and the sharpshooters dig holes, covered with stones, so that only the rifle barrel appears, and they are able to fire at almost point-blank range. Out of 100 wounded Spaniards who were itnerrogated, only two stated that they had seen the enemy. A Niglit of Horror, Benter’s and other correspondents report fierce fighting on July 25 between the police and revolutionists outside Barcelona. The Marist Monastery offered a stout resistance, and three monks were shot dead. The mob destroyed five churches and convents in a few hours, and during the night Barcelona was given over to all the horrors of revolution. Many people were murdered, including nuns. There was no gas or electricity in the streets, and a gang of incendiaries, including women, carried torches, bundles of straw and paper, hatchets, and petroleum, and rushed from church to church and convent to convent. Next afternoon they sacked a number of goldsmiths’ shops. The Fathers and pupils of the Jesuit monastery at Saria repelled the rioters for three days by steady rifle fire, until the artillery relieved them. After - the burning of a convent at San Jeronimo, the revolutionists disinterred the corpses, and carried them in procession and tied ropes to the embalmed bodies of nuns and dragged them through tire streets. There are now 25,000 soldiers in Barcelona. Rioters Shot in Batches. The “Chronicle’s” correspondent at Barcelona, telegraphing through Cape Cerbere, Southern France, reports that there are 1000 prisoners in the Montjuich Fortress at Barcelona, mostly Aupes, including women and boys. Since the leading revolutionists escaped a court-martial has been sitting all day, and rioters taken red-handed or smelling of petroleum, or showing traces of gunpowder, are found guilty and shot in batches a few hours later. The “Daily Express” correspondent reports that 160 people have been shot since July 31 by firing squads of forty infantry in the courtyard of the fortress in the presence of the garrison. Arrests continue, owing to some of the condemned accepting respite in return for giving the authorities names of revolutionists. An 800-ton Submarine. The new French submarine Archimede, of 800 tons, has been launched at Cherbourg. She is the largest submarine in the world.