900,000 IDLE

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19909, 11 June 1936, Page 7

900,000 IDLE

I THE FRENCH STRIKES. ' PROSECUTION 0F PROFITEERS. I\VAGE CONCESSIONS REPUDIATED. United Press' Assn.——-Elec. Tel. copyrlem (iteceived June 11, 11.40 am.) PARIS, June 10. Seventy thousand textile workers in the Houbaix and Tourcoing district will resume to—niorrow, with a it) per cent. increase in pay. Their other demands will be discussed when )I. Blnm's Bill is passed. The northern miners are returning. but the drift to work is not yet geuv eral. Those idle. according to some estimates, number 900.000. including new strikers who are coming out owing to the powerlessness of the trades unions. Thc latest- ”stay-in" strikers are employees of fashionable costumiers. Mannequins and midinettes are sitting in the windows chatting passers—by. Three thousand five hundred agriculturallsis in Seme~et—Oise have struck, also stonemasons. market gardeners, llorists, racing stable boys. and Paris—ian charwomen. Line thousand. eight hundred and fifty strikers occupied the Schneider munition works at Le llavre, and the strikers have still not evacuated the Citroen, Renault and Courtauld works. The Blue train ran again, but the employees of the French Line struck after the selling of the Normandie at it a.m., occupying the warehouses. Wage concession Re~pudlatod. Many employers repudiate the wage increases, declaring that the conces—sion will total 35 per cent. when the 40—hour week and paid holidays are considered. t The Parisian police are‘ proseiruting shopkeepers for profiteering to the extent of 50 to 100 per cent.. iwhcn the food supply is menaced. Already 250 summonses have been issued. Lifeboatmen on the Seine, on striking, erected placards forbidding people to Jump into the water, adding hum- t orously: “While the strike lasts only mothers-in—law will be saved." 1 TIRED. OF THE DIPRIOSION. NEW PHASE IN FRANCE. HOPE. REPLACING PESSIMISM. United Press Assn.——Elec. Tel. Copyright (Received June 11. 11 am.) LONDON. June, 10. The Paris correspondent of the‘ Manchester Guardian considers that it is becoming clearer every day thati France is entering on a new phase. She is tired of the three years’ depression,‘ and considers that conservatism and economic caution are played out, and] is prepared to engage in experiments regardless of danger. The psychological. atmosphere has enormously im~ proved, hope replacing the widespread pessimism, even among employers. The textile trade in the north ‘0! France has sentn deputation to M. Blum. urging that increased costs would necessitate export subsidies to enable the ‘industry to compete in colonial and loreisn markets. Herr Hitler's Prephoay Fulfilled. Herr Hitler regards the strikes as the fulfilment of his prophecy that Bolshevism has spread to France. His aversion to the Soviet is extending tol France and even western democracy as a whole, increasing his reluctance to reply to the British questionnaire. _._—_.....