FRANCE BADLY TREATED

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 15289, 16 July 1923, Page 5

FRANCE BADLY TREATED

WILL NOT LET GO PLEDGES, M. POINCARE EMPHATIC. ALLIES' HONESTY ADiMTTTED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn. Received July 10, 12.5 p.m. PARIS, July 15. M. Poincare, in unveiling a monumen to M. Odent, ,thc Mayor of Senles; who was shot by the Germans in 1914, referred to the serious propositions) which were now the subject of AngloFrench negotiations. M. Poincare declared that what France wanted lo do was to make the Versailles Treaty re- \ spooled. France had never ceased to make concessions since the Armistice. She alone had borne the great burdens. France had been badly treated. Although she had the majority of in- : tcrests at stake, she had a minori'.y of '. representation on the Reparations Commission. Efforts, had been mada to replace the commission by an international financial committee, but this was not in France's general interest. / M. Poincare went on to say: "Wo proposed to relieve the German debt by the cancellation of the inter-Allied debt, but wo are considered to be asking too much. Nevertheless Germany has been so well cared for during the past three, years that she is able to leave her obligations unfulfilled and France had to pay hundreds of milliards which Germany should have paid. Have we not tolerated the reconstruction of German shipping, \ the development of canals and railways, and enrichment of her indus- ' try? Equal ilrmness on the part of all , Hie Allies would have made such bad / faith impossible. Germany now has ! organised resistance, and France has been forced to'accentuate the pros- ,' sure. Were France not in Ruhr, her / hands would have been empty, where- ! as she now holds pledges and does , not intend lo let them go." The speaker added that he was always a faith fill partisan in the AngloFrench alliance, and even 'before the war believed in the close union of the two great nations of Western Europe. None, therefore, would regret it more than himself if any | shadow should darken the friendship ' to which he had'contributed. He knew - the Allies were as honest as them- . selves, and felt assured that in the end , they would agree that France was • right. WHAT ACTUATES ENGLAND? FRENCH PAPER'S QUERIES. ' Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn'.; \ Received July 16, 12.30 p.m. ' PARIS, July 15. The Temps affirms that France in . following the policy of her Allies met ; with deception after deception, and: asks "Why does England work against; France? It is not by chance, nor because of suspicion or lack of diplomatic skill; it is an instinct which always goads her forward to reduce the power of the most influential nation, and to divide the Powers of Europe ono against the other."