SENSATION IN SAAR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 190, 25 May 1934, Page 5

SENSATION IN SAAR.

DOCUMENTS DISAPPEAR. THEFT FROM FRENCH OFFICE. i United PreES Association— Copyright) LONDON, May 24. The Paris correspondent of the "Dailv Mail" says that grave significance is attached to the theft from the office of the Saar Mines Administration of a number of documents, including details of French propaganda methods in the Saar. and a list of German children attending French schools. . An Administration employee and two guards, who have disappeared, are believed to biijimplicated. Officials consider that the documents' have been taken .to Germany for employment as political propaganda in connection with the plebiscite. The French authorities deQlded to complain to the League of Nations.

The Saar Basin, one of the largest coal-producing areas in Europe, was placed under the control of the League of Nations bv the Treaty of Versailles, a plebiscite to be held in 1935 to decide whether the territory shall be finally included in France or Germany. In the meantime the coal produced by' the mines has_been sent to France to compensate for the mines in France placed out of action or destroyed during the course of the war.- The. Saar Mines Administration is the French bodv that controls the disposal of the coal. It has no official connection with the Saar Governing Commission', appointed by the League of Nations. . The approval of the plebiscite has occasioned extensive propaganda work by both France and Germany. While Germanv has been accused of attempt-' ing to extend"'the Nazi system, and of other action to ensure a pro-German vote, or even to upset the plebiscite altogether, little or nothing has been heard of French efforts in the same direction, though they are certainly as intensive as those of Germany. The Saar would 1 be an acquisition to. either country. Its population is about three-quarters of a million, and it produces annually about 11,000,000 metric tons of coal,' coke 2,000,000 tons, pigiron 1,500,000 tons, steel 1,500,000 tons, and rolled steel 1,000,000 tons.