SPANISH LIFE UNDER WAR CONDITIONS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 89, 1 May 1937, Page 11

SPANISH LIFE UNDER WAR CONDITIONS

British Editor Says That Life, Apart From Darkened Streets And Throngs of Refugees Goes On Normally in Valencia and Barcelona

TITK. HENKY BEINTON, the editor of Quarterjy News, tells what he , saw and what he thought when he vasited Bar- ' celona and Valencia. Going to Spain is not really as exciting as its sounds — provided one keeps away *from the fighting area. I epent a fortnight. in the country and never heard a shot lired, though it is true th)at Port Bou, the frontder station, was bombed the day after I went in and two days before I came back. There is some skortage of food. Meals in hotels are limited to three courses. , The worst thing I had to hear was the impossibility of getting. anything but Spanish eigarettes, which are quite incredibly offensive. I took a good supply of English ones with me, It lasted two days, during which 1 enjoyed a lively popularity among the English and Americans in Barcelona. There is no butter. Once only — in Valencia — I was proudly brought some by the waiter. It proved on investigation to be rather in- . ferior margarine. . Barcolona has an atmosphere of its own, which is difficult to describe. It wakes up about ten in th8 evening and stays awake till some hdur which I never ascertained, as I did not stay up after 2 a.m. My hotel was in the Kamblas, a wide street with trees in the middle, leading to the Place de Catalunya, which was the scene of iieree fighting in the first days rkT fko TAL*plHnn_

In the peace which now reigns it is difficult to picture the scenes which occurred. The great square was occupied by militaTy and fortified with machine and field guns. This popition was stormed hy the citizens aTmed with shot guns and carving knives, riding in commandesrcd motor cars and trams. It was supposed that you cannot rush machine guns with dinner knivep — until they did it in Bartelona. The only signs of these exciting happenings that I could discover were two bullet holes in ' the windows of the Hotel Colon. All day . long and most of the night the Eamhlas is thronged with militia — militia ou leave from the front, militia en' route for the , front. Detachments of recruits for the International Column march. with banners behind a hand. Gars with flags , drive by, cars covered with P.A.I.:

G.N.T.J U.G.T. There are many foreigners, mostly journalists. Often groups go down the centre of the Eambblas singing, not boisterously, but -rather like the singing one used to hear from troops in England. 20 years ago. One senses that the people are content in a restrained and quiet way. This at first is rather surprising. Gradually one comes to .understand it. Here-is a people who have f aced and overcome the immediate threat to their -freedom. They were . f acfed by • an impossible task — and performed dt. Now they are against tremendo*as odds, but they know where they are. They wiH win, - they think, because they must win. Valencia is different. It seems restrained and austere after the friendliness of Barcelona. The buildings are very white' and the sky is very blue. After the damp and cold of England, the perpetual sun is glorious. In some of the squares oranges are giowing . on • the trees. It is cold at nights, though, and there is no coal for the • central heating. At half-past ten all the • street lights are put out and all windows shuttered. It is eerie walking dn the streets, unable even to see the kerh; only the dim 4 outline of tall buildings against the sky and every few hundred yards a deep violet light of low power that only gccentuates the gloom. Far from finding the disorders and confasinns one had heen led to believe, life,

apart from the darkened streets, the militia, and the throngs of refugees, seemed to be normal. Workmen were busy repairing the roads and bUilding large hlocks of flats and even banks. • I had a long talk with the Minister of Justice. " "We talked a little of the " war, but mainly about prisons. As he has spent 14 years in them himself, he is an authority ; . on Spanish prisons. He told me with the greatest eagerness the plans which he is making to carry out far-reaching feforms. Indeed they have' already been begun. Another interview was with Senor Irujo, Basque Minister in the Valencia Government, a devout Catholic and keen Basque Nationalist. His party had not originally belonged to the pbpular front,, but joined dt when the rebellion began. The Basques claim to be the. oldest civilisation and the first democracy in Europe. ' They defied the legions ' of Caeear. Ndw they are defylng the deseendants of Caesar, who are seeking to do with aeroplanes and high explosives what 'the legions failed to accompliSh. - • The courage of some of these people is inspiring. I talked to one of Senor Irujo 'e secretaries, who came* from San Sebastian. . His house had been destroyed, his motor cars, money. and property confiscated. He had arrived dn Barcelona a few weeks before in a shirt and pair of trousers— his only remaining property. The day I talked ^

. to him one of his cousms naa oeen shot by the rebeis; yet he was going quietly abont his business. The BasqUes aTe devout Catholies and staunch upholdors of li/eriy When tho Italian inVasion of - Abyssinia was taking. place,; cham prayers were held in the streets - to ask that the Pope might -be guided to use his influence on behalf of- the League and justice. To- * day the Basque troop3 going into action on hehalf of the Govern- . ment' havo a' priest with every company. I find it difficult to write dispas--rionatcly* ahout Spaiu. In my short stay I came to love the country , and the people, and the leasfc that t caa do is to implore my countrymcn to realise how great is the sufiering of the Spanish people, andhow great . is^ our responsibility in the council of the Nations.