LIFE IN FRANCE

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3555, 8 December 1934, Page 10

LIFE IN FRANCE

PLAIN SPEECH FOR. OFFICIALS. A NEW GOVERNMENT RULE. (From a Paris Correspondent.) One of the most important -reforms instituted by M. Gaston Doumergue since he became Premier is the cultivation of plain speaking on public platforms. Broadcasting has helped him considerably in this, for it has brought him into very close personalcontact with the people. • • 'Ar*. Doumergue . does not suffer from anything: -'corresponding to " stage fright " when he finds himself before a microphone. In.-his .last broadcast, although he had a -fine speech prepared, he did not stick slavishly to the text but at times, his voice touched with the emotion he felt, he improvised most happily. . ; He hj.is made it ckar that he wants' the whole system of government to be in closer touch with the people. To this end he is. elaborating a series of constitutional reforms, about which he will speak when he is again to - broadcast his views on the way in which France should be governed. ■ THE NEW ORDER. " 'i he Premier arid many' of 'those about him have "'realised that the World has no longer either'time" or patil'Eoice for what was described to me recently as " official fuzzihess." This " f uzziness " had been developed by many official departments to the point of a fine art, so that a lojig document ei'thsr said really nothing at all or was couched in terms which only trained lawyers could be expected to understand. M. Albert Sarraut, the Minister of the Inteiior, has just addressed to prefects and heads of departments a letter in which he points out that many of the reports with which he has to deal are meaningless oi*. tendentious. He demands that in future official documents should say in plain terms wdiat they .are intended to convey and, further, that ' they should convey only the simple truth. This is believed to be part of a general programme. There is to be plain speaking by officials, and niaftjr people will have to cast overboard the too prevalent idea that language was meant to conceal thought. In a large measure this attitude is due to the scandals which' have Recently blotted political arid Official 'sutcheons her»3. It'is now realised that clear lang-uage is one of the most powerful instruments in the hands Of those who exei-cise honest authoi'ity. THE SAFETY ZONES. . A good deal of discussion is now going on in Paris concerning the value of the so-called safety zones marked out by ste.el studs across busy thoroughfares. When these were instituted it was understood, that pedestrians would use the lames marked out for their protection, and that motorists would respect the rule that on these little slices of v the highway walkers would enjoy rights of priority which would m'ake. it unnecessary; for them to run Hk?"rabbits whenever they.wanted to cross a. road. It is five years since the safety; zones were instituted, and there iare now 12,000 of them in '. Paris alone. According to police statistics their existence has reduced, the number of fatal traffic accidents in the city by 100 per year, for while in 1929 there were 244 suc'h deaths the numiber. last year fell to 144. . ' . But the question has been liaised whether these safety zones provide a satisfactory solution to the problem. They ought certainly to make motorists more careful, for it is that last year 17,000 drivers werel fined for having ignored their existence. On thj? other hand it is held that pedestrians, as well as motorists, are inclined to take little notice of the rules governing safety zones. Experience has shown that the zowes are 1 of little use unless they are closely watched by police officers. ». - In addition to the uniformed traffic police there is a force of plainclothes men engaged in looking out for breaches of the rules.. The.steel studs used in marking out the crossings; cost about tenpence each, so that the total cost of providing an official substitute for "road sense" is a heavy charge upon the Budget. A REDISCOVERED ARTIST. One of the most successful exhibitions in Paris has just comie to: air end. It is tihJat of the three seventeenth century painters, the Le Nan*, brothers. At first the exhibition was) not as well attended as many' others of its kind, but. as the- day -went by the fame of the artists, and especially that of Louis Le Niain, grew rapidly. Many art lovers were surprised at the extraordinary mastery , that he showed in his paintings of peasant life. • ' As a result of the exhibition a .curious discussion h!as'arisem The question has heen asked: Were the threa Le Nains in reality four brothers, just as the' "Three Musketeers" of Duanas 'were actually four men? No definite answer has been:given to the que*? tion but the discussion.has served to emphasise the genius .of" the -secondbrother, Louis. Through "the-obser-vation of Louis L 6 Wain's piaintings we have also •been reminded that tablecloths in Franee during the sev-, enteerith century were not laid flat, on the tables but in folds,-as-the ripples were considered pleasing to the eye. ' -■■