FRANCO-BELGIAN BLOCKADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18325, 15 February 1923, Page 7

FRANCO-BELGIAN BLOCKADE

NO EXPORTS TO GERMANY. METALS, DYES, CHEMICALS. THROTTLING INDUSTRY. By Telegraph— Association— Copyright. (Received 10.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. ; PARIS, Feb. 13. A new Franco-Belgian order prohibiting the export dyes and chemicals from the Ruhr region' operates at midnight! It will cut off the great dye* and chemical works of the Rhineland from the rest of Germany. The Dusseldorf correspondent of the Petit Journal says that after a month of hesitation and careful sounding, France has reached a new formula, which is simply , the investment of the Rhineland. This is no longer considered merely a protective guarantee, but a guarantee of compulsion to make the occupation of the Ruhr productive. Thiß guarantee is necessary to assure the working of the mines and the circulation of trains, two things intimately associated. The correspondent gathers the impression that there is a growing conviction that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to exploit the occupied area of the Ruhr and secure profits now. The Ruhr will be entirely isolated, regardless of what may happen internally, the main object being to cut off from Germany a source of wealth. Franco may not have the Ruhr, but.neither shall Germany. The Echo de Paris reports Herr August Thyssen, the noted industrial magnate, as saying: " We can hold out two months if Franco stops the export of coal, one month if she stops the export of metallurgical products, ,and one week if she prohibits the import of iron,"

The object of the occupation of Wesen and Elmerich is to control all the customs doors to the Ruhr. It would seem that the intention is to form a kind of frontier parallel with the Rhine joining the bridgeheads of Mayence, Coblentz, and Cologne. The Dusseldorf correspondent of the Daily Chronicle states that the now block ado is traceable to the Belgians, who have for some time been demanding stonier meiMire . The French here hav» rot genet id the step with rejoicings; , tley realise that its adoption is a condemnation of their policy of the past month, j-.r.d confession of its complete failure. ! A Ruhr trad© union leader says that it will mean the complete cessation of all work in the Ruhr. There will be serious stoppages in the occupied terri tory within ten days, then Heaven knows what will happen. The Ruhr is fast approaching the condition of Belgium in war time. Trade and industry have been throttled, and scores of people are being dragged from their homes at a few minutes' notice and expelled. Others are being arrested and imprisoned. The temper of the population is naturally rising, and it would not be surprising if trouble breaks out.