FRENCH SHIPPING

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 70, 16 December 1940, Page 10

FRENCH SHIPPING

Breaking Of Blockade Alleged

PROBLEM FOR BRITAIN

(Bv Telegraph.—Presd Assn. —Copyright.)

NEW YORK, December 13

The decision of the Petain Government to order the brench navy to convoy French merchantmen Carrying raw material and food to Marseilles and other French ports has seriously strained relations between France and Britain, says the “New York Times.” Lisbon has learned on unimiieacbable authority that the French have been breaking the British blockade in this manner for several weeks. A considerable quantity of food has been convoyed from Algiers, and several convov.s have not been molested while passing- Gibraltar. The quantity of raw materials taken to I rance in this way is not sufficiently large as yet. to suggest that the French are gathering materials for the Germans, but Britain’s fear that it may be the beginning of an important traffic is compelling her to take action to prevent the riddling of the blockade. It is understood that Mr. Churchill fears that interference with French convoys might force France into war with Britain. France insists that she is only carrying food for her own existence. The establishment by tlie Germans of a second and third line of air bases, deep in France, and some in unoccupied France, may necessitate the British bombing that, area, even at the risk of bringing France into the war.