SITUATION GROWS WORSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18317, 6 February 1923, Page 7

SITUATION GROWS WORSE.

RAILWAY DISLOCATION.

FATAL CLASHES REPORTED.

ANOTHER FRENCH ADVANCE. TROOPS ENTER BADEN. By , Telegraph—Press Association— " (Received 9.5 p.m.)' A. and N.Z. LONDON. Feb. 4. The correspondent of the l Times at Essen reports that the situation in the Ruhr region and the Rhineland became worse during the week-end. There have been many more arrests, removals from office, and expulsions of officials, including Dr. Fuchs, • Ober-President of the 'Rhine Province, the highest official in the Rhineland. An anti-French demonstration 'of protest was dispersed by French infantry. ': A number of- tragic incidents as the result of trouble between French soldiers and Germans have been reported. One German was shot dead and three others seriously wounded. .: .

< ; Th© Daily ; i Chronicle's correspondent at Dusseldorf says that everybody is awaiting news of the. first coal train to France. It started,; manned by Frenchmen. The stationmaster at Hohenbudberg refused" to allow it to pass ,the signals, the points went wrong, the engine developed defects, and the train got no further. If these difficulties attend the running of one coal train, what will be the trouble when dealing with 200 which are daily required to carry Franco's portion of the reparation coal _

German labourers in some places, adds the correspondent, refused to accept from the French five-fold their normal wages to load coal. French troops at Bochum used revolvers because Germans refused to obey orders. Two Germans were killed and four wounded, but the affair has been hushed up until now.

The Central News Agency reports that a train under French control was derailed at Ingelheim, and was surrounded by a crowd of Germans, of whom the French shot nine dead.

Advices from Berlin state that French cavalry, infantry, and tanks occupied Appenweier and Offenbach, in the Baden. This is an extension of the Strasbourg bridgehead.