FEELING THE GRIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18342, 7 March 1923, Page 9

FEELING THE GRIP.

fef : BUHft INDUSTRY. | " WANY WORKS TO CLOSE. BAW MATERIAL EXHAUSTED WORKERS GROW RESTIVE. I I; UNEMPLOYMENT SPECTRE, j By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 9.5 p.m.) i. and N.Z. LONDON, March S. j Reports from Paris state that many ( large concerns in the Ruhr have issued notices to their employees that they must dose owing to lack of raw material, I Several collieries are suspending owing I to accumulations of coal at- the pitheads. ' There is a general indication that the • great industrial groups, including the j 'fhyssen and Stinnes groups, are feeling the French grip severely. The workers 1 - »re growing restive and are demanding, J in some cases, agreement with France. j The Dusseldorf correspondent of the I Daily Mail states that the steel J »nd coal magnates, faced with the ' closing down of their works, are making . ' 4 more insistent demand on Herr Cuno ! to open negotiations. Cne important plant at Duisburg has exhausted its steel ! reserve', and has dismissed the employees. -Even the great Thyssen-Steinner's works are approaching the end of their resources with the prospect of 100,000 workmen being thrown idle. The Reparation Commission invited the German Government to send delegates to discuss the export of nitrogen with France. Belgium, and Italy. The Government replied, refusing any dealings with French or Belgian delegates during the Ruhr invasion. Negotiations with Italy are already progressing.

TALK OF A RUPTURE. I

I EXCITEMENT IN BERLIN. f VIOLENT PRESS COMMENT. A. and N.Z. LONDON, March 5. The Berlin correspondent of the Paris Matin says it is asserted in Pariiamenta circles that Germany intends to break off diplomatic relations with France, for which reason the Reichstag is convoked I for Tuesday. The Deutsche Zeitung publishes a sen- | sational report that a Czech army is drawn I 1111 on the Bavarian and Saxon frontiers, | and is daily manoeuvring under a French , generalissimo. j The extension of the French occupation ' has created much excitement in Berlin. ; Pi-ess comments are very violent. Some ' papers demand the breaking-off of diplo- ! marie relations, and the expulsion of ail French and Belgian citizens. Herr Cuno, in a further interview, wild: "We must persew.e with a bitter and perhaps long defensive fight, unless v.e wish to lose everything. We want a free and united Germany, and will not accept any solution not leaving the whole Rhineland territorially and politically j unimpaired. France has systematically ; planned the invasion, not through fear of j German attack, but through craving for control of the Lorraine ore and Ruhr 1 coal in order to reduce Germany to a powerless vassal state. The French Government has informed j the German Government that the new ! occupations are due to German sabotage j in the Ruhr, especially the sinking of ! barges in order to block the canals. j Hie Paris newspaper, Liberte, comments on the situation : " It should be noted in l Berlin, London, Berne, and Tho Hague ! as an important fact that we now con- 1 trol the whole Rhine." Mr. Bonar Law, replying to questions in the House of Commons, said that he I had no information of Germany breaking off diplomatic relations with France.

TERMS OF EVACUATION. j

NEW TREATY MOOTED. I A. and N.Z. LONDON, March 5. j The Paris correspondent of the Times ' states that the terms ultimately to be offered to Germany are being discussed with greater earnestness. The idea of a new treaty to supersede or amend the | Ver ailles Treaty ia making headway. Th?re ' appears, however, to be a cleavage in i French official circles. One section desires I a great inter-Allied debate in consonance j with the spirit of the Versailles Treaty; the other wishes to confine the negotia- I tions to France and Belgium, which would mean a separate treaty. Meanwhile early , action is not likely. Well-informed circles declare that. j France will offer a progressive evacuation in return for actual fulfilments of the I reparation demands.