MASS HYSTERIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 219, 16 August 1937, Page 7

MASS HYSTERIA.

BASQUE REFUGEE TROUBLE,

LONDON, July 29. Tolling of the church bell will call together the villagers of Brechfa, AA’ales, in the event of further trouble from Basque boy refugees who are camped nearby. These boys broke windows, threw knives and barricaded roads in an outbreak of mass hysteria. Doctors ascribe their beheaviour to shock induced by the horrors of the civil war. The camp superintendent reports that the boys are now quiet. They ibjectod to the villagers staring at them. They told him they had smashed windows to revenge themselves on the police, whom they hated. He is getting rid of 12 of the".elder lads, who are blamed for the outburst. The National Joint Council for Spanish Relief states that the trouble at Brechfa was due to tho leadership of 40 or 50 youths aged 16 to 17, who were not amenable to discipline. Of the 4000 refugees in England, not more than 200 had been refractory. Although many of the children had lived under civil war conditions for months, and some had seen their parents shot, and had since been without the guidance of guardians, most of them were well behaved. Some elder boys gave trouble when subjected to restrictions meant only for small children. AVhen such children were placed under more suitable control, they gave practically no trouble. The 20,000 refugees being cared for in France have been full of mischief, but have not caused serious trouble. There it was proposed that they be placed with private families, in the hope that liomelifo would cure their wildness. The French Government would not agree to this, as it intends to return them all to Spain when the civil war has ended.