BRITISH VISIT TO PARIS

Southland Times, Issue 23675, 25 November 1938, Page 5

BRITISH VISIT TO PARIS

BACKGROUND OF STRIKES MIXED RECEPTION FOR MINISTERS FRENCH OPINION AGAINST COLONIAL GRANT (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received November 24, 9.50 p.m.) LONDON, November 24. The Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) and the Foreign Secretary (Viscount Halifax) arrived in Paris yesterday on an official visit. They were greeted by the French Prime Minister (M. Edouard Daladier), the Foreign Minister (M. Georges Bonnet) and a representative of the President (M. Albert Lebrun). Cheering crowds lined the beflagged route from the Gate du Nord to the British Embassy, but the reception near the station was mixed. A solid . section of communists,' with upraised fists, cried: “Down with Munich and the betrayer of Czechoslovakia! Vive Eden!” These protests threatened for a moment to lead to disorder, but after vigorous action by the police the crowd dispersed. < In the evening Mr and Mrs Chamberlain and Lord and Lady Halifax attended a banquet given by M. Bonnet at the Quai d’Orsay (the French Foreign Office). , With a general strike imminent, and opposition to the recovery decrees becoming more intense every hour, _ the Anglo-French talks will open in a gravely disturbed domestic atmosphere, said an earlier message. The French Cabinet met yesterday and finalized its policy. The strikers throughout France now number between 22,000 and 27,000. Seventeen thousand metal, workers have struck and occupied 150 factories throughout Valenciennes. Mobile Guards subsequently began evicting the strikers. The postal workers and the textile unions have announced their support of the general strike. The General Confederation of Trades Unions decided on a short general strike, the date of which will be fixed on Friday. Fifteen thousand metal workers at Lille are expected to join the strikers at Valenciennes. Unrest is growing among the miners, and protest meetings will be held throughout the country on Saturday. The French Press criticizes the exclusion of the colonies from the discussions, and a former Minister, M. Frossard, said: “I hope MM. Daladier and Bonnet will tell Mr Chamberlain the truth—that peace has not returned after the Munich agreement and that the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia has not appeased the appetite of the Reich.” The Republican Federation, ths largest group in the Chamber of Deputies has issued a statement demanding a joint declaration by France and Britain against the cession of colonies. EUROPEAN COMMITMENTS The Times commenting on Mr Chamberlain’s visit to Paris, says: “The Munich agreement at least removed one serious obstacle to complete Anglo-French understanding. Definite uneasiness in Anglo-French relations was inevitable as long as France had commitments in Eastern Europe to which Britain was not and could not be a party but in which, at the moment, she might reluctantly become involved through her commitments to France. Now that the policy of encirclement against Germany has finally broken down it has become much easier for the two countries to pursue a common policy in defence of their common interests.” After pointing out that in the Mediterranean, the Near East and the Far East identity of interests is almost complete, The Times refers to the probable effect on the discussions of the AngloItalian and Anglo-American agreements. Both of them, it says, are steps towards a better world, to be followed by otheis in the same direction. Relations between France and Italy and means for improving them are bound to be sought, and Mediterranean and Spanish questions will be touched upon. Both Britain and France are concerned to see that the civil war in Spam leaves that country as independent of foreign control or interference as it was before and that foreign intervention should be brought-to an end as speedily and completely as possible.” The General Council of the Trades Union Congress telegraphed to Mr Chamberlain in Paris expressing concern at reports suggesting the granting of belligerent rights to the two sides in Spain and urging him not to be party to such a proposal.