FRENCH CRISIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22444, 13 June 1936, Page 13

FRENCH CRISIS

SOCIALIST BILLS t UPROAR IN CHAMBER WOUKETiS' CONDITIONS CONCESSIONS APPROVED By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright (Received June 12, 5.15 p.m.) PARIS, June 11 When the Chamber of Deputies met to-day the members of the Right began to obs'-uct in order to prevent a discussion of the new Government's bills. However, a show of hands rejected a motion to shelve the measures on the pretext that factories were still "occupied " by strikers and law and order had not been respected.

Uproar, punctuated by cries of 'Tigs ; scoundrels," greeted the introduction of the bills by the Piimo Minister, M. Blum.

Another wild demonstration was precipitated by M. Blum's declaration that bo would not order the police and the Mobile Guards to enter " occupied " factories.

A measure to exempt ex-servicemen's pensions from taxation was passed without a division and the Paid Holidays Bill, granting 15 days' leave after a year's service, was passed by 56.'5 votes to one.

After a monotonous debate the Chamber eventually passed the Restoration of Cuts Bill, which, incidentally, precludes Civil Servants from taking employment outside the State services. Also it adopted a Collective Contracts Bill by 528 votes to 7. The Houso then adjourned. It will debate the Forty-Hour Week Bill tomorrow.

STATE OF CHAOS STRIKES AND SETTLEMENTS UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS PAftlS, Juno 11 The good impression created by Sunday's strike settlement is slowly evaporating. The number of new strikers exceeds the number of thoso who are resuming work. Thousands of demonstrators marched down the boulevards to-day cheering and waving red flags. Others careered round in taxis, shouting defiant slogans. The authority of the Trades Union Council is not as strong as the leaders supposed it to bo, as the workers are ignoring its decrees. Instead of returning en bloc and consolidating the advantages won, they are taking up collections and exhausting middle-class sympathy by waging a guerilla war in order to squeeze the utmost from their individual employers. The continuance of strikes in most unexpected quarters suggests that many workers feel they must take advantage of the situation before it is too late.

The seesaw of strikes nnd settlements continues, with 10,000 workers and nonunionists possessing no clear plan of action. Thousands of Parisians went without breakfast to-day owing to a strike of waiters and butchers. The strikes have extended to firstclass Parisian restaurants and hotels. The factories were rendered idle at Bordeaux. where the shipyard workers took possession of the liner Cap Patlaran. A boatbuilder at Marseilles who, in anger at his striking staff, fired a revolver at them, was arrested after wounding one. Boucn is paralysed owing to occupation of the port by striking dockers. Workmen engaged in the construction of the eastern fortifications "downed tools." Marseilles is without taxis or newspapers.

The franc continues to sag but the exchange market is inert.

SOCIETY WOMEN DELAY WITH DRESSES 20,000 EMPLOYEES OUT LONDON, Juno 11 The Paris correspondent of the Daily Mail says a strike of 20,000 cutters, seamstresses, designers and fitters employed by fashionable dressmakers, including Molyneux, Jean Patou, Paquin and Worth, has created consternation among English and French society women, who fear delay in the delivery of dresses for forthcoming functions. These include Ascot 'and the French Derby on Juno 14. Already three fashionablo French weddings have been postponed. It is expected that thousands of pounds' worth of orders will be placed in London instead of in Paris.