Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1937. IRON ORE FROM SPAIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 244, 27 July 1937, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1937. IRON ORE FROM SPAIN.

The international political situation is not the only aspect of the civil war in Spain that creates difficulty for Britain. There is an economic factor of great concern to the iron and steel interests of the United Kingdom and through them to the nation as a whole. The interruption, if not cessation, of supplies during the year of conflict has seriously hampered industry in Britain, which, as a cablegram reported recently, has been compelled to resort to unusual methods for obtaining metal. The position is complicated in more ways than one by the action of General Franco, whose forces have now control of the Basque country, from which the principal supplies from Spain are drawn. Not long ago the insurgent leader gave an assurance that he would respect Britain’s rights in the iron ore trade, but his agreement with Germany, officially announced, shows that his undertaking is subordinate to his reliance on Germany for material assistance in his campaign. The effect of the diversion of iron ore to Germany can be gauged from the/ fact that Britain normally imports nearly a million tons, roughly half the output of Spain. The demand can be filled elsewhere, but probably at higher cost. But the mineral resources of Spain, which are very extensive —they include besides iron ore, pyrites, copper ore, mercury, tin, wolfram, manganese ore, lead, coal, potash salts and sulphur—have much wider importance in the civil war and its international repercussions. General Franco’s strategy has been influenced to a considerable degree by the location of mines. He commands the important southern mineral centres of Huelva and Rio Tinto, where the output of copper, sulphur and pyrites from British-owned mines has been requisitioned in quantity and sent to other parts of Spain and also to Germany and Italy. The Bilbao drive had iron ore mines as part of its object. General Franco desires to deprive the Government of resources and to secure assets for the purchase of further military assistance from Germany and Italy. The iron ore and steel industries of both Germany and Italy are suffering from a shortage of raw material, and General Franco s success would benefit both countries in their self-sufficiency plans in face of exchange difficulties. So that General Franco’s object is. twofold: To gam the active assistance of Germany m the present and to provide a market in the future. But the first aim is the predominant one.