Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, SEPT. 30, 1940. SPAIN’S DILEMMA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 259, 30 September 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, SEPT. 30, 1940. SPAIN’S DILEMMA.

Recent conversations in Berlin between the Spanish Minister of the Interior (Don Suner) and the developments in the French territories in North and West Africa have drawn attention to the question of what part Spain is likely to play in the aims of the Axis Powers. .Foreign observers have sought to draw a clear inference from the Berlin visit that Hitler and Mussolini are seeking to press the Franco Government into hostile action against Britain by holding ,out the bait of territories for it in North Africa —but one report suggests that if Spain is to take action she must do so speedily. Despite the exhaustion by the civil war which rent • the country for so long, Spain still looks covetously toward Gibraltar and North Africa, particularly French Morocco.' Yet the possibility of gains is heavily counter-weighed by other most pressing considerations, and the recent agreement reached between Britain and Spain concerning the regulation of certain imports to that country in order to prevent leakages in the blockade is a factor which must be taken into account in seeking to define Spanish feeling. In July last Spain officially defined her status as one of nonbelligerency, though General Franco formally laid claim to Gibraltar. The faction which Don Suner leads, however, declared through . its official organ that Spain was really a moral belligerent, with simmering hostility toward Britain. About that time Britain had perforce to recognise that the benevolent attitude she was adopting toward Spain was being abused—the latter’s imports of certain essential war materials were far out of proportion to her needs. Whatever concessions were being made to keep Spain from becoming more friendly with the Axis Powers did not appear to be yielding the most fruitful results, and consequently there has recently been sealed a new definition of what Britain will allow to enter Spanish ports. This appears to have been settled quite amicably, perhaps largely due to the diplomatic work of the Ambassador (Sir Samuel Hoare) who has done much for’ British influence in Spain. The course the latter country is following is not clear, but she is far from re'ady for war, should she decide to yield to the influence of Berlin and Rome. The civil war left her short of almost every kind of essential material, and food rationing is still being earned out in a severe form. The ravages of the conflict will take many years to obliterate, and it is difficult to believe that the people can be roused to a mood for further war. Spain’s greatest need is assistance in her economic reconstruction. Britain is in a much better position to provide financial help

and markets than either Germany or Italy. How Spain will shape her course in the face of coercion by the Axis Powers remains to be seen, but. sjie should not be slow tq see that they are seeking to use her as a tool in what some observers define as a plan for African domination, and that she stands to lose more than she can hope to gain by throwing in her lot with them.