Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 1936. FRANCE AND GERMANY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 304, 21 November 1936, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 1936. FRANCE AND GERMANY.

These tavo countries have provided the newspapers' with sensational news during the past few days. Herr Hitler has denounced the Versailles Treaty in so far as it aii'ects the navigation of certain rivers in Europe which pass through' several ritories. Apparently there was no necessity for taking such seemingly drastic action, for Germany could ■ have had her sovereignty restored over the navigable rivers just as Turkey was given back command over the Dardanelles. The Turks, however, adopted a more commendable plan of action. The change in the position with regard to the rivers will, in the main, affect Czechoslovakia, and this country and Germany may yet develop serious differences. However, Herr Hitler's dramatic gesture is obviously intended to distract the attention of the German people from their own internal troubles. The German people are running short of food, and something had to be done of a spectacular character to give the people something to think about other than hunger. It is reported from Berlin that the foreign investments of German subjects are to be confiscated. These foreign investments would be sold, and provide Germany with the foreign exchange that is so badly wanted for the purchase of foodstuffs and raw materials. There is nothing much in. the German sensation, although it is helpful to Herr Hitler in pacifying the people. The Trench sensation records an exhibition of French frenzy in political affairs. Kightists and Leftists indulged in a football scrummage in the Chamber of Deputies, but beyond a little blood-letting there was not much damage done. These physical struggles are not infrequent in the l'rench Chamber of Deputies. The authorities seem to have no control, while the Deputies stand in no fear of a dissolution. The life of a French Ministry is a very precarious one, and from the French point of view the present Government, with •M. Leon Blum as Premier, cannot hold office much longer. M. Blum has had anything but a pleasant time since he took office, for he began with the "stay-in" strikes to worry him, followed by the war in Spam, and now the exploits of members of the Eight and the Left, and the tragic suicide of his Minister for the. Interior (M. Salengro) following unfounded accusations that M. Salengro deserted to the Germans during the Great War. The Blum Government will probably hold on until the tiirn of the year, when another Ministry will be put in office, to be thrown out very soon afterwards.