10 OCTOBER 1931, Page 2

* * * * Spain - The Spanish Republic risks losing

its most experienced leader in Senor Alcala Zamora, who threatened to resign on Tuesday. As a moderate Republican who had held office under the Monarchy, he has pursued a firm and conciliatory policy which has steadied public opinion in Spain and abroad and has kept a -discordant Cabinet together. But his party in the Cortes numbers only 28, against the 145 Radicals under Senor Lerroux and the 114 Socialists under Senor Prieto. It was to be expected, then, that when the Cortes came to discuss the article of the draft constitution dealing with the rights of private property, as it did on Tuesday, sharp differences between the parties should develop. Senor Alcala 'Zamora has evidently found it very difficult to reconcile his position as leader of a minority with that of Premier leading a coalition. The incident has its moral for a National Ministry here.