18 APRIL 1931, Page 2

Portugal and Madeira The situation in Madeira, when we write,

remains much what it was last week. H.M.S. ' London ' is anchored off Funchal ; the guns of the revolutionaries are mounted on the rising ground behind the town ; but the. island's reputation as a health resort has been menaced by nothing worse than a possible food shortage. The arrival of the punitive expedition from Lisbon must, however, be awaited with a certain anxiety. The rebels are reported as resolute, and the presence of a British cruiser should help to stiffen the self-control which both sides may find needful in circumstances of some delicacy and tension: In Lisbon the Madeira pronunciamiento was the cue for disturbances the exact scope of which remains doubtful, but which the Government appears to have weathered without overmuch.difficulty. General Carmona, the least dictatorial of dictators, has done a great deal for Portugal; but the repercussions of the Madeira episode have made it clear that the discontent he has aroused, ill-founded though much of it is, is likely to come to a head soon rather than late.

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