Bulletin. No. 4

              22 MAR 1937
NATIONAL JOINT COMMITTEE FOR SPANISH RELIEF
Chairman : The Duchess of Atholl. M.P. 
Vice-Chairmen: The Earl of Listowel,  Miss Eleanor Rathbone, M.P. 
Hon. Secretaries: Mr. D.R. Grenfell, MP.,  Capt. J.R.J. Macnamara. M.P.,  Mr. Wilfrid Roberts. M.P.,
35, Marsham Street, S.W.1.   Telephone: Victoria 2168 
Organising Secretary: Mrs. Mary M. Miller.
Co-operating Societies: Social Service Council of The Society of Friends, The Save the Children Fund, The Spanish Medical Aid Committee, The Scottish Ambulance Unit, The Spanish Women's Committee for Help to Spain, The Women's Committee against War and Fascism, The Spanish Youth Foodship Committee.
Bulletin No. 4.   19th March, 1937.
Contributions and donations are coming in steadily to the National Joint Committee's Relief fund and we have just bought £300 worth of food which is being sent to Dr. Pictet at Valencia this week. We quote below a very satisfactory report on the work of our 'buses from Mr. Garratt, who is in charge of the contingent and in response to a telegram in which he appeals for more transport, we are arranging to buy another 'bus. A liaison officer has gone out to Perpignan at his own expense to facilitate the sending of 'buses, lorries and ambulances over the frontier.
THE COMMITTEE'S 'BUSES IN SPAIN
We have heard from Mr. Garratt that our motor 'buses are doing very well, particularly the two Bedfords recently sent out. They are now making another trip to Madrid, carrying four tons of milk destined for the Spanish Committee for looking after "odd" children. Petrol and the practicability of the Madrid road are the two chief limiting factors, but if the vehicles are designed to carry sufficient petrol to complete the journey, the first difficulty should not be insurmountable. The main road from Valencia is closed for the last thirty miles, but the detour to reach the side road is not very difficult or dangerous, and adds no more than an hour to the journey. The road is partly in shelling range, but Mr. Garratt says that although he has done the trip six times, he has only seen one shell.
We quote the following description of the evacuation of children from the Friends' Bulletin: "Their departure was most moving. The parents made an attempt at restraining their tears; the children joked, chattered, wanted to appear grown up. When the car set off, there was neither weeping nor outcry, but the faces of the children became absolutely tragic. The route by which they leave the town is altered every day (one way only). Suddenly the car was faced by three broken down lorries on the road, already narrow. The children had to get out, and with great difficulty and great danger the car passed the lorries and took up the children again. All this in driving rain. Then the dynamo gave trouble. Already they had left rather late, and they had to wait for a clear sky before starting off again."
The Spaniards have a tremendous love for children and in every village where our 'buses halt, the inhabitants rush out to welcome them.   On one occasion, after a pause for a midday meal, it was found that several children were missing.   After a long search, they were finally located at the barber's shop.   He wanted to do something to help and the best way in which he could do so was to cut the children's hair for them.
TRANSPORT
It is agreed by reliable authorities that in the question of the provision of transport versus supplies, the over-whelming need is for transport and if one must be sacrificed to the other, it is better to send empty motors than loads of food without the means to distribute. Mr. Garratt reports that he has more food to take to Madrid than he can handle and that there is an unlimited number of children and very pressing cases to take out of Madrid.
A correspondent who has just returned from Spain sends us the following report on the situation: One of the very greatest difficulties with which the Spanish Refugee Committee has to contend is the lack of transport facilities. In the first place all the roads, with the exception of the few main arteries, are extremely primitive, sometimes so filled with holes and deep ruts that it is impossible for a car to go more than five miles an hour. Now more than ever this difficulty is increased by the fact that all the traffic between Madrid and the Government territory