TENSION EASIER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 282, 29 November 1938, Page 9

TENSION EASIER.

FRENCH SITUATION.

Many Strikers Decide to Resume Work. GOVERNMENT'S FIRM STAND. Unitcil Association.—Copyright. (Kecoired li a.m.) PARIS, November 2S. M. Daladiov, French Prime Minister, again conferred with military and civil chiefs regarding the enforcement of laws against the general strike. Meanwhile, no incidents have occurred throughout the country. Some 4-3.000 miners, chemical workers and engineers resumed work at Lille and Valenciennes. The ex-Minister. M. Frossard. urges the Government to act as mediator whereby M. Daladior would become stronger and earn the country's gratitude. Left Wing newspapers generally eontend that tlie only aim of the "strike was to protest against the economic decrees. M. Sarraut has returned from Turkey and assumed the Ministry of the Interior.

Meanwhile, the situation has somewhat eased in the N'ord area, where strikers occupy only one works. Many of the Anzin coal miners have resumed.

So-called free unions, with a membership of 20,000, decided not to participate. The Parisian retailers promised to open their shops on Wednesday. Members of the Professional Union of I Paris voted against a strike.

The Government announced that it will requisition the. Paris underground railway in the event of a strike. Parisian metal workers voted to return to work but only about 1700 were admitted at the Renault works, mostly clerks. BY BRUTE FORCE. Attempt to Impede Government's Policy of Peace. FRENCH PREMIER'S APPEAL. Independent Cable Service. PARIS, November 2«. M. Daladier, French Prime Minister, in a radio broadcast, said: "The strikes and sudden occupations of factories represent an attempt to impede by brute force the policy of peace which the Government is pursuing , ." The Prime Minister added: "CtTtain heads of international organisations have warned us that they are about to begin a mass attack ajrainst the Government. They are trying to force ns to capitulate to threats, but the Government is resolved to accomplish its duty to the nation. I appeal to all Frenchmen to reflect upon the consequences which a period of disorder might have %»n the country's destinies."

There is a widespread conviction that M. Daladier, whether deliberately or not, is pushing France along the road to Fascism. His repeated accusations against "foreign organisations" are interpreted as heralding antidemocratic campaigns, while his increasing use of military forces appears as a foretaste of what might follow if the workers continue to resist the decrees.