OCCUPIED GERMAN AREAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18679, 8 April 1924, Page 7

OCCUPIED GERMAN AREAS.

FRENCH EXTENSION DENIED WAR ON SECRET SOCIETIES. WARNING TO NATIONALISTS. By Telegraph Press —Copyright. (Received 8.35 p.m.) A. and N.Z.—Router. PARIS. April 6. A message from Berlin stated that a report emanating from Essen alleged that the French had extended their occupation to the northern outskirts of Elberfeld. , This report is officially denied. It is added that no such operation is contemplated. That further trouble is brewing in the Ruhr and Rhineland is, however, indicated in orders issued at Coblenz by Gene, ral Degoutto. A vast combined operation has begun throughout the Ruhr and Rhineland for the purpose of suppressing German secret societies. Up to the present 61 arrests have been made and important documents have been seized. It is reported from Berlin that a conference of the Imperial Coal Council and Coal Association has adopted a resolution declaring that the burdens imposed on the mining industry in the Ruhr by the Michum (the Franco-Belgian Mission of Control over mines and factories is intolerable, because it has swallowed np the working capital and disturbed the workers. Le Journal says that the French Prime Minister, M. Poincare, and the German Ambassador discussed the agreement of the Ruhr industralists with the Michum. It is reported that M. Poincare warned Herr ftfoesch of the fatal consequences of a fresh conflict, the beginning of which would be the suspension of all present working arrangements. JJ. Poincare added that recent utterances ox German Ministers might interfere with the occupied territories taking part in the German election. It would be impossible to refuse Germans the right to vote, but the lied authorities could not permit unrestricted Nationalist propaganda.