1938-11-01 — Page 10

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WATSONS

WATSON'S LEMON BARLEY WATER

LEMONS. FOR REFRESHMENT BARLEY FOR NOURISHMENT

$1.20 per Bot.

Announcing

Dinner Dances

at

REPULSE BAY HOTEL

EVERY WEDNESDAY,

9.00 p.m. to 1:00 am. Commencing 2nd November, 1938

Table d'Hote & a la Carte

For reservations please 'Phone. 27775

THE HONGKONG & SHANGHAI HOTELS, LTD.

Here's Luck!

EWO

BEER

THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 1, 1988.

The China Mail

Ninety Third Year of Publication |8A Wyndham Street, Hong Kong. Telephone 20022 London Office: 7; Garrick Street, London, W.C.2. Notice To Contributors.

All communications intended for publication should be addressed to the Editor, and be accompanied by the_Writer's Name and Address, not necessarily for insertion but as a guarantee of good faith.

Subscription Rates.

3 Months............ H.K.$ 9.00

H.K.$18.00

6 Months One Year............... B.K:$36.00 Postage Abroad Extra Hong Kong, Tuesday, November 1, 1938

SPAIN PARADOX

1

big scale? To leave things as they are has become impossible, at least for Italy, a It seems that Germany and Italy have, to begin with, decided in favour of withdrawal. It is believed that the Italian troops in Spain number between 75,000 and 100,000. A consider- able number, about 10,000, have left as a token with- drawal without substantially weakening Italy's position in Spain: the Italian bombers and aerial and naval bases in Spain and the Spanish islands matter. much more than 10,000 or even 50,000 Italian troops. Italy can, în exchange, count on the recognition of her overseas empire by the French and British Governments: For Germany a temporary "set- tlement" of the Spanish ques- tion would have a certain ad- vantage in so far as it would seem to give an appearance of reality to the assurances of peaceful intent that have pass- ed between Berlin and London and are being dispensed with such profusion by M. Daladier. It is of some importance to Herr Hitler that these assur- ances should be really believed in.

The Spanish problem is taking a rather paradoxical turn. All the available evidence would seem to show that the "gentle men's agreement" is about to come into force, and as a re- sult that General Franco will be deprived of what small changes he had of winning any more victories in the near A closer "rapprochement" be

future.

One thing would seem to be certain. He can win only if intervention is so intensified that it will amount to an open campaign by powerful imported forces. The military situation at the moment is regarded in London and in Paris as being very favourable to the loyalists, except that the food shortage

tween London, Berlin, Paria, and Rome and an apparent "settlement" of the Spanish question would do much to im- prove the international atmos- phere and to lull the Western Powers into a sense of security, quite apart from strengthening the position of Mr. Chamber- lain and giving Italy time to recuperate.

in loyalist territory is very Is the move towards a settlement serious.

The superiority of the loyalist over the rebel army is no longer, contested by any serious obser- vers. There has been a com- plete change of opinion amongst military experts on this sub- ject. All the scepticism that was poured, and to some ex- tent understandably, on the loyalist army has now been turned into a great respect. The rebel army is now regarded as being without offensive capacity, except in so far as it

of the Spanish problem merely tactical or is a real settlement intended? Do Germany and Italy want peace in the Medi- terranean or do they merely want an interval to prepare for an aggressive policy? That is the question to which there is no certain answer at the moment, although it must be admitted that the deepest suspicions are felt by official observers.

is strongly reinforced by Ger- Distress In man and Italian aeroplanes,

artillery, and infantry. Even Kwangtung

with those reinforcements there

non-

is no chance, according to the The appeal which is issued to-day view held in 'Paris, that the re- bel army can prevail, provided reinforcements are not multipli- ed and provided that loyalists can continue to feed their own people. There has been a certain cooling

the

by a Committee of leading Hong Kong residents, drawing at tention to certainty of acute distress among thousands of people in Kwangtung as an out- come of the Japanese invasion, should need no emphasis. Hong Kong has, perhaps, no direct responsibility for the fate of these victims of hos- tilities, which have uprooted them from their normal way of life, but a very real moral debt is owed by Hong Kong to the Kwangtung people, while humanitarian instincts alone should suffice to induce a ger- erous response.

off in the relations between Signor Mussolini and Herr Hit- ler on the one hand and General Franco on the other. Recently, when the European war seemed imminent, the General was asked by the Germans to make his aerodromes available for raids on non-Spanish objec- tives. But he was determined to observe strict neutrality, and in this determination he was The full nature and extent of warmly supported by majority of his fellow-officers, The recent international crisis showed that rebel Spain would not willingly become a base for operations against France and Great Britain.

the

The Spanish civil war, if it goes oh in its present form, will impose an ever-increasing bur- den on Italy, with little or no hope of success in the end. But what can she and Germany do now that they are faced with the alternaitve of withdrawal from Spain or intervention on a

|

the problem to be faced is not yet apparent. Its growth into serious proportions as the win- ter draws on will, without doubt, be marked by a process of rapid acceleration. There is, indeed, grave reason to fear that the full toll of destitution and tribulation will strain the resources of the charitable agencies working in their in- terest beyond capacity.

That, however, furnishes a more cogent reason for doing all we CAN" 88" BOON : as we can' as liberally as we can.