REIGN OF TERROR IN FRANCE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1103, 17 April 1911, Page 5

REIGN OF TERROR IN FRANCE.

THE CHAMPAGNE RIOTS.

ANARCHIST PLOT,

RIOTERS CONVERGING ON RHEIMS.

LOSSES TOTAL £750,000.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Paris, April li. Twenty thousand troops are occupying Marne. They were mobilised forty-eight hours too late. The authorities have been enjoined to restore order at all costs. Several police, who have been engaged in the surveillance of anarchists, have been sent to Rheims to arrest Parisian agitators who are known to be there. Further arrests have been made on charges of damage and pillage. Military aeroplanes reconnoitred over the disturbed districts. PARISIAN ANARCHISTS. RIOTERS MARCHING ON RHEIMS. (Rec. April IC, 5.5 p.m.) Paris, April 15. Dubois and Lagoche, the ringleaders in the riots, have been arrested. Papers seized at Venteuil indicate that tho disorders are the outcome of a plot which is supposed to have been devised by Parisian anarchists. Minor demonstrations are being made at various strategic points. The approaches to Rheirus are now closely guarded, as many bodies of rioters are converging oe the city. Tho artillery are protecting the champagne depots. GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. QUITTING THE COUNTRY. ■ {Rec. April IG, 5.5 p.m.) . . Paris, April 15. M. Ayala and some other wine shippers have decided to quit the country. M. Ayala's losses amount to ,£200,000, and tho total losses are estimated at .£750,000. Inquiry shows that some firms, besides the brands genuinely produced in the Marne district, sold wines manufactured from grapes from distant regions. They aro heavy sufferers by the promiscuous destruction of property.

A MANIFESTO. WORST INCIDENTS \TTKIBUTED TO ANARCHISTS. Paris, April 14. Senators and Deputies of tho Marne Department conferred with the Winegrowers' Federation. Tho latter then issued a manifesto attributing tho worst incidents of tho rioting to anarchists; also to the ineitatious of a cyclist, who falsely represented himself to bo an emissary of the federation. The committee's manifesto appeals to the vinedressers to await the coming solution of tho trouble. 11 is understood that vines have been considerably affected by blight, this foreshadowing a poor vintage this year. The smaller winegrowers in ths Department of Marne arc suffering from a series of bad harvests. Their estates arc heavily mortgaged. They sell their products to big firms enjoying a reputation for selling genuine. Marne champagne. Hence they are of ono mind with the latter and tho celiarmen in supporting area delimitation, and violently protesting against the abrogation or. revision o£ tho present conditions.

LAW AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE. 'SERIOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS. London, April 11. Tho Paris correspondent of "The Times" states tliat tho French Senate, under pressure from Aube, lias declared against al! delimitation, and that the Chamber of Deputies, under impulsion from tho Marne rioters, supports the Government, which is inclined to yield to the greatest and most recent pressure. The seriousness of tho situation lies in the fact that largo sections of the masses are convinced that the proper way to influence public opinion, Parliament, and the Government, is to indulge in violence. Tho partisans of sabotage scarcely fear tho arm of tho law or tho military; they are confident that M. Jaurcs (tho Socialist leader) and his friends will keep the action of both within bounds.

"The question is," adds the correspondent, "how long Frenchmen will go about their daily business on these terms. They arc in horror that tho increasing lawlessness may possiUr some day exceed the" present widespread horror of reaction."

RAILWAY STRIKERS. STATEMENT. BY THE PREMIER, (Rec. April 16, 5.5 p.m.) Paris, April 15. The Chamber of Deputies, by a large majority, has voted confidence in the Government's declaration of its intention to adopt measures to influence the railway companies to reinstate strikers.

31. Monis, the Prime Minister, declared that tho Government did not possess any weapon of compulsion except public opinion. If their efforts proved unavailing they would ask the Chamber to supply the necessary power.

NAVVIE3 ON STRIKE. A FIGHT WITH THE POLICE. Paris, April 15. Five hundred navvies on striko on tho canal works at Marseilles hnve had conflicts with the police. Twelve policemen and many strikers have been injured.