LABOUR IN INVADED COUNTRIES

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11731, 22 June 1916, Page 4

LABOUR IN INVADED COUNTRIES

PARIS, May 4. The " Rannieye Outro " publishes information from its correspondent in Minsk to* the effect that on the .proposal of the Governor-General of Mitau, Von Schoehnhor-Burnstein, a scheme is being drafted in Germany which provides that all the populations of conquered territories, both men and women, shall be obliged to give their labour for the profit of the German Government. The Tilsitter Zeitung" gives a brief account of tho terms of the proposed law. The war has taken on such proportions, says the German paper, that it has extended far beyond anything that could be imagined. taws no longer meet the situation and they must, therefore, be changed. The life* of the Genu an Empire must be preserved above all else. The "Tilsitter Zeitung" goes on to owu that to force civilians _ to work, especially when they are obliged to take part in tho erection of fortifications and defence works, is not in conformity -with the laws established at international congresses. But *tho situation which the. war has brought about renders invalid all rules which the paper adds, are. not kept by any of the belligerents.