RUHR RESISTANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 47, 24 February 1923, Page 7

RUHR RESISTANCE.

OPPOSED BY WORKERS NEGOTIATIONS URGED. FRANCE "S RIGHT TO PAYMENT. ANTI-NATIONALIST MILITIA. |B y Cable- rrew Asso-.tlon. -Copyright.. , R»,-oirpil 1 ..SO a tn. PARI . Kebruar.y -':(. t.orkers in the Kuiir are opposing the fcrenmient- policy oi resistance. The Bochnm "orkers ha ye organise! a militia to combat the Nationalists. The Elberfeld Socialists passed a resold in favour of France's nphl 1,. reoarations, and urging negotiation?. F The "Matin" quotes the "Messagero" that an economic pact is pending between france and Ttaly, under which France ivill furnish coal and iron, 'and Italy a hundred thousand mine workers—(A. >nd 5.7.- Cubic) DECLARATION OF WAR. EXPECTED BY GERMANY. SEIZURE OF THE RUHR. LONDON, February 2... Sir YV. Beach Thomas, the representative of the "Daily Express" at Cologne. continues to semi sensational dispatches forecasting the gravest developments in the Ruhr- He accuses the French of suppressing news, and declares that American and British business men cannot handle goods without heavy payments to the French. Even then transport is not available. The Ruhr is now i dead region. The French apparently have abandoned a real attempt to export adequate coal supply. Passive resistance stiffens daily inßide and outside the Ruhr. A mass meeting of railwaymen unanimously resolved not to obey foreign orders, demanding thai all railwaymen face banishment or prison, declaring that a foreign Power will find an iron German defence. It is no use. the correspondent concluded, concealing that the Germans etpect a declaration of war and a new treaty under which the Ruhr area will be seized for reparations.—(A. and X.Z.) AN AMERICAN PROTEST. CONFERENCE SUGGESTED. NEW YORK, February 21. A mass •meeting, at whitjh 14,000 perlons were present, was held in Madison Square Garden in opposition to the French occupation of the Ruhr. Prominent speakers voiced anti-French sentiments. _\ W. E. Borah felegraphed advocating calling a conference to adjust the Ruhr situation, which had threatened the peace of the world. Telegrams from prominent citizens all over the country eipressed opposition to the occupation. One prominent lawyer who was invited refused to attend, and issued a statement defending France and bitterly attacking Germany. This meeting is the first of its kind since the French marched across the Rhine. — 'A. and N.Z. Cable.) COBTROL OF THE RAILWAYS. t PARIS, February 23-. A Franco-Belgian civilian commission ii immediately taking over all railways in tiieir occupied zones. — (A. and K.Z.)