FRANCO-GERMAN RIFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 305, 24 December 1926, Page 7

FRANCO-GERMAN RIFT.

STRONG FEELING SHOWN. COURT-MARTIAL SENTENCES. JEOPARDISING LOCARNO. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) ißprelved 10.30 a.m.) PARIS, December 23. Strong feeling continues to be manifested both in France and in Germany over the sentences passed by the courtmartial arising out of the shooting affray at Germersheim, when French soldiers fired on German civilians, killing one. A French lieutenant was acquitted while several Germans were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, ranging from two years to a few months. The "Petit Parisien" states that the German Ambassador has officially informed M. Berthelot that the unfortunate impression which the court-martial verdict has created in Germany is likely to adversely affect a Franco-German rapprochement. Commenting on the German Press protests the paper says they are not nearly so concerned with the defence of the persons sentenced as with a speedy evacuation of the Rhineland. "Le Journal" recalls the scandalous manner in which Germany treated the Allied demands for the punishment of offenders against common law. "Ere Nouvelle" states that the offenders should be released. "Gaulois" aske: "Is Locarno to be jeopardised for the sake of a mere legal affair ?" "Quotidien" says the French Government will treat the sentenced prisoners with clemency.

MINISTER TO PROTEST. DEMAND FOR RE-TRIAL. BERLIN, December 23. The Government has instructed Herr Yon Hoesch, German Ambassador at Paris, to demand the reopening of the Landau case, also to enter an official protest, pointing out that the acquittal of Lieut. Rouzier, and conviction of Germans, seriously menaces the furtherance of friendly relations between France and Germany. Dr. Bell, Minister in the occupied territories, in a statement to the newspapers, declares that the verdict is unbearable, and a mockery of justice. If courts-martial think so lightly of the lives of inhabitants, said Dr. Bell, people will be convinced they are living without the protection of the law. He adds: "Germnny will do all in her power to make right triumph." German journalists who daily reported the case, have sent to M. Briand a protest against the extraordinary judgment, which is classed as a serious attack on the German people and the civilised world's conception of justice. WAS THERE PROVOCATION? OCCUPATION THE ROOT. ■•. . : LONDON, December 23. The Paris correspondent of the "Times" says that when it became generally known that Herr yon Hoesch had been ordered to remonstrate against the Germersheim verdict this knowledge was expected to cause almost as much indignation through France as the verdict appears to have caused in Germany. The majority of the French newspapers support the opinion of the judges at the court-martial that the incidents at Germersheinf were the result of German Nationalist provocation, and that Lieutenant Rouzier had the right to benefit by the extenuating circumstances. A remark by the French Commissioner that- the incidents culminating in the affray dated from the introduction of a more lenient policy in the Rhineland after the Locarno Pact, has attracted wide attention. Both French and Germans agreed that the incidents were the result of provocation, but whereas the Germans consider the French occupation was the r,oot cause, the French maintain that the nervous state of the town, which made the incidents possible, was deliberately artificially created by German agitators in an attempt to hasten the withdrawal of the garrison.