POLICY IN PORTUGAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1942, Page 4

POLICY IN PORTUGAL

MASSES OF PEOPLE FAVOUR

ALLIES

BUT GOVERNMENT CAREFULLY NEUTRAL.

MESSAGE OF FRIENDSHIP TO BRAZIL. (By Louis Shepard, in the “Christian Science Monitor.”) The warm message of friendship sent by Portugal's President, Gen. Oscar Carmona, to President Vargas of Brazil. when the Republic declared war on the Axis, reflected the fraternal feeling of the Portuguese for their former Colonials, but officially Portu-

gal's Government and the newspapers maintain a strict neutrality. Until “Diario Lisboa” commented the other day on the ties that bind Portugal and Brazil, the newspapers generally had not printed editorials since the beginning of the war. Space has been divided evenly between items from DNB, Exchange Telegraph, Havas, Domei, and the American United Press. A communique issued by the British Government is printed on one side of the front page balanced by a German High Command communique on the opposite side. The same thing is generally true in

connection with radio programmes, which are arranged by the Government. News commentators are unknown and -women tonelessly read the communiques. At each end of the Rossio, a miniature Times Square, are news bulletins and. news pictures. The downtown end" features coloured photos of the British Navy and Army in battle, and a huge V-for-Victory sign; a shop window at the National Theatre end displays current pictures of the German Army on the Russian front, fighting “Bolshevismo,” headed with a V-for-Vitoria notice. The crowds that are always gathered before the exhibits are equally distributed. “The Times” of London and “Das Reich” occupy prominent places on all news stands with other British and German newspapers and magazines. Most educated Portuguese are able to read English and German and they buy many of the foreign periodicals. “Sinai,” the Portuguese edition of a German picture magazine, is a favourite with many Portuguese; but so is the “Anglo-Portuguese News.” Every day. people who appear to be German, and who wear swastika pins, are seen strolling the boulevards. But for every swastika pin to be seen an R.A.F. pin or Merchant Navy emblem is also apparent, usually belonging to Britishers resident in Lisbon or to sailors off British ships in the River Tagus. When a warplane belonging to one of the belligerent nations is forced down on Portuguese . territory the crew, of course, is interned. But almost every well-informed foreigner in Lisbon winks slyly when talking about the internment of pilots.

Many people are certain that the British ships in the. river are Rent there primarily to hide R.A.F. pilots who have been downed in France and smuggled into Portugal via the French and Spanish underground. These persons are just as certain that the many German planes at the Sintra airport are kept there’primarily to get German pilots out of the country swiftly. As a general rule, the Portuguese army officers deeply admire the strength of the German land forces. Some officers have remained in Germany for periods longer than a year with their families. Most of those re-

turn to Lisbon with glowing accounts of the mightiness of German arms. Yet most officers are wary of a German victory and are strong apostles of the neutrality policy. At the beginning of this year, however, the Portuguese Government' was invited to send a group of Army and Air Force observers to England. The Government immediately appointed some of its most able younger officers to proceed to London. Naval officers, of course, operating ships which are mostly British built, are profoundly pro-British. The common people of Portugal are pro-British and American. The British flag has been flying in Lisbon for a long time. The street cars, the telephones, and the telegraph are Britishowned, and thousands of persons work for British companies that fly the Union Jack over their headquarters. Almost every native of Portugal dreams of some day being able to go to America. An indication of this hope was apparent when a demonstration was held before the American Consulate in Lisbon by hundreds of street car motormen, conductors, locomotive engineers, railway labourers, and mechanics. A rumour had somehow been spread to the effect that the United States was seeking such skilled workers, who came to the'Consulate for visas. One of the Vice-Consuls was forced to call the police to disperse the mob. The policemen, upon learning why the men had come, joined in the cry for visas, asking, “How can we make a living as policemen on 20 dollars a month?” One of the Chiefs of Police had to come in person to persuade the men to leave.