FERRER'S MARTYROOM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 216, 18 October 1909, Page 2

FERRER'S MARTYROOM.

CONTINUED PROTESTS. By Cable.—P,-ess Association.—CopyrigM .Morocco, October 15.

Another bomb was found an hour ufler the lirst at ilurcelona. lloth were placed iu an armored carriage us<d lor removing explosives, and each exploded immediately. Borne, October There iu a general strike in Koine. Nearly all the shops are »hul, and the tram way and cab services are sii»1 ended. A similar condition of affairs exists at Milan and Trieste.

Loudon, October IS. The Spanish Minuter of Fornign Affairs states that the Court judged Ferrer as having actually participated Iu direct acts oi rebellion. ? The .Socialists are organising an Albert Hall meeting to protect against Ferrer's execution. They threaten to boycott Spanish goods.

FREE FIGHT IN SPANISH PARLIAMENT. ■ DISTURBANCES COXTJXI E. BOMB OUTRAGES.

Received 17, 5.8 p.m. London, October 10.V An open fight took place in the Cortm between Ministerialists and Republicans over the Ferrer case. Liberal deputise separated the combatants. The Ferrer disturbances continue'. , At Buenos Ayrcs the Spanish Legation is guarded. Bombs exploded at the Spanish Consulate at Rosariu, injuring one anarchist and damaging the Consulate.

DISORDERS IN ITALY. Received 17, 5.5 p.m. Rome, October 16. There was a great demonstration in Rome, where tne general strike continues. Many Spanish Consuls in Italy have lesigne'd. The leaders of the Italian agitation are prolonging the disorders in order to interfere with the Czar's visit, which'has been postponed. The place of the Sovereigns' meeting is being kept secret until the last moment.

The execution of Senor Ferrer will not tend to the security of King Alfonso's throne, nor to the personal safety of that monarch. Whether Senor Ferrer was the secret organiser and inciter of the Barcelona riots—a doubtful assertion at best—does not matter » great deal. What does matter, and what is of concern to the people of othor countries, whatever it may be to the various European Government!, U that ! the Spanish leader vas arbitrarily arj rested, tried in secret by the military, condemned on ex parte evidence, and shot like a dog. No Government io Western Europe can hope, to thrive on this sort of savagery. Even admitting that the Barcelona outrages were as hoi> riblo as some correspondents affirmed* though their narratives have r oeen categorically denied, there is no shadow of excuse, once order wa» restored, to tlb sort to the wholesale slaying of thol* who were arrested blindly and halt haznrdly during the heat of the ftgf, \et this is what the Spanish authorities have been doing from the first dayi of the revolutionary outbreak. Ml batches of prisoners were taken ofct daily and shot, in order to make roan for fresh arrivals,, while larger numbari were sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. Then followed a systematic and thorough attempt to close all Republican clulk and unions, to suppress all fiepublican newspapers, and to arrest all the leading on the mtlt ground thnt tliey are guilty of using unusually free language which the authorities construe as seditious. Amonpt those thus summarily seized was Senor Ferrer, who was the founder of theonlr independent and liberal schools in Ban*lona—all of which have been suppressed —and, according to the authorities the inspiring epirit of the Catalonia rising. Guilty or not pnilty, the fact remains that liia condemnation ho*- aroused many weighty as well as violent proUsti in Spain and abroad. But these avail*! not; Senor Ferrer has had to par the dread penalty of failure. It la the veriest mndness for Spanish Minister* to assume that they can carry on tit government of the country regardless of public opinion and in defiance of the ehmentary principles ol justice. Th? strongest Mil most reliable military autocracy uT the world could not permanently maintain itself with a domestic policy that is based on ruthless repression and a foreign policy that has plunged the nation in an imposaible. costly, and detested war.—Dunedin Star,