NO MOVE TO END FRENCH RAIL STRIKE

Chronicle (Levin), 10 June 1947, Page 5

NO MOVE TO END FRENCH RAIL STRIKE

Received M omlav, 10.20 p.m. PAIMS, June 9. Railway Union leaders have appealed to M. ltamadier to reopen itegotiations to end the rail strike but there is_ no respon.se from the Uoveriiinent which anuounced tliat its long distance bus service would be trebled and the extra plane service aiigmonted todav and fur Iher increased tomorrow it' the strike Wero prolonged. VI ost of the Paris newspapers sympathise with the strikers, most of wlion1 receive only £20 a niouth, but the Cov■ermnent has stated that national economy could not s.tand t-he Imrden of paying out the additional £60, ()()(), 000 annually required to nieet the strikers ' deniands. The Paris correspondent of the Tiines says that the Cioverninent refuses to discuss ternis until the strike is calle,! off while the union refuses to resunie work until the Governinent concedes its prinripal deniands. Many private car owners have responded to the Oovernnient 's iippeal to lielp and niotor-coach services are being organised to niaintain the iilland ser vices. The railway workers at Strasbourg have joined the strikers, closing the last alternative holiday route to Switzerland and efi'ectively blocking thousands of British tourists froni re turning honie, says Renter's Paris cor respondent. The British Kmbassies and Consulates are giving tlie ' ' refugees ; £2 a day subsistence allowance. Many had spent the last of their allowance. The Frenc'li Ministrv of Transport has appealed to all citizens to sliow eivir. y.eal at this time of national crisis. The Paris correspondent of the Daily Express says that the (tovernment appears to be digging in for a long siege, using army drivers and air force pilots to build up alternative systems of transport. The Daily Mail's Oalais correspond ent says that the port has become the clearing-liouse for tliowands of strand ed travellers, with timi, hungry tour ists who caught the last trains fron. Paris rubbing shoulders with others just arrived froni Dover. Despite official warnings, some of the new arrivals are liiring taxis, spending £50 to £00 to get to Paris. Most of the stranded travellers have had to subsist on dry rolls and water supplied by the raiiway eonipany but others 'have been oyerwhelmed by the hospitality of the citizens of C'alais, who have distributed parcels of food and flasks of wine and refused payment.