A Loan for General Franco General Franco's friends in this
country have always asserted that after the civil war he would inevitably turn to Britain for financial aid. So far they have not been justi- fied by events. But there is no doubt that General Franco urgently needs money for reconstruction, and negotiations are to be opened with a French-Dutch-Swiss consortium for a loan of £20,000,000. M. van Zeeland, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, who is acting on behalf of the consor- tium, has arrived in Paris, and will proceed to Busgos if General Franco expresses his willingness to give guarantees of his pacific intentions towards the democratic Powers. Their nature is not known ; no doubt they will apply to the obligations involved in menits-rship of the Anti-Comintern Pact, the continued presence or Italian troops in Spain, and General Franco's military preparations, especially on the Franco-Spanish frontier and in the vicinity of Gibraltar. The essential condition is, or should be, that they are guarantees in deed and not word ; General Franco has been lavish in promises but cautious of fulfilling them, and the consortium will do no service to its own countries or to Spain if its L20,000,000 goes to defray the cost of supporting the Axis.
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