FRANCE AROUSED BY ECONOMY MEASURES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 186, 8 August 1935, Page 7

FRANCE AROUSED BY ECONOMY MEASURES.

VIOLENT CLASHES.

Rioting , Spreads to Main Seaports. BATTLES WITH POLICE. (United P.A.—Electric TelograpJi— Copyright) (Received 12.30 p.m.) PARIS, August 7. The campaign at Havre against the Government's economy cuts brought the port to a standstill. A meeting of seamen on all the French transatlantic ships in the harbour decided to carry on the strike begun earlier in the day by the crew of the Champlain. If the strike continues the Colombia will be held up on Thursday and the Lafayette on Friday.

The Normandie is not due to sail until August 14, but all the crews sympathise with the Champlain's complement, while officers have refused to accept their salaries as a protest.

The Champlain is due to leave for New York with 800 passengers, including 250 due from London and the French tennis players participating in the American championships. British passengers arriving at Waterloo found the boat-train cancelled. The French passengers were kept for a long time in suspense. They were unable to get food as the kitchen staffs had left the ship.

The police guarded piles of luggage on the quayside at Havre. The strikers have sent a letter to the company saying they are not civil servants and that their contract is a private one, ratified by the maritime working code.

The company replied that the strikers' grievances were against the Government and referred them to the Minister of Mercantile Marine, who declines to intervene.

Arsenal Workers Down Tools. The Brest arsenal workers clowned tools this afternoon when their delegates conferred. In the Place Anatole France the crowd hurled insults, and then threw bottles and stones at the police, who charged. A2O minutes' fight ensued, and a number of people were injured.

The arsenal will be closed on Thursday for the funeral of the workman killed in the riots on Tuesday.

At Brest there is intense feeling against the 2nd Regiment, Colonial Infantry, as it is believed they caused the death of the workman who will be buried on Thursday. The workman is alleged to have attacked an infantryman who struck him on the head with the butt of his rifle. 'Die workman died in hospital during a trepanning operation. He leaves a widow and five children.

There was a pitched battle when rioters working on the battleship Lorraine found their way barred by lorries which had conveyed reinforcements of Guards from Nantes to Brest. The Guards drove back the attackers, who were forced to take refuge on the Lorraine. _ In Paris 2000 civil servants demonstrated against the cuts in their pay, and many arrests were made. Twelve hundred busmen, after receiving a cut in their pay, attempted to march in procession, but were dispersed. Six arrests were made. A similar protest was made by 500 gasworkers at Clichy.

STRONG OPPOSITION.

MUSTERING OF FORCES

PARIS, August 7.

The Prime Minister, M. Laval, has decided to summon the Prefects from all parts of Fiance to Paris after new decrees are promulgated on Thursday. This will be the first gathering of the kind in the history of the Third Republic. The Government seeks the Prefects' fuller co-operation.

Representatives of the Common Front parties and the principal Socialist and Communist trades unions conferred, and unanimously decided upon a joint policy of opposition to the Government's financial and economic measures.

The Teachers' Congress carried a resolution urging the Federation of Trade Unions to work for the formation of a Government of public safety, which would disarm the Fascist League, control the financial resources of the country and the Press, master the banks and purge the higher civil and military administration.