RUINED FRENCH MINES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 84, 3 January 1920, Page 7

RUINED FRENCH MINES

WORK FOP, UNEMPLOYED GERMANS FOR EIGHT YEARS. Work for all the unemployed in Germany for the next eight years will be provided iii restoring tlio ruined mines of Northern France, says the Berlin paper "Vorwaerts." Thit; opinion is based upou the report of the German Mining Commission sent to France recently to ascertain the extent of the damage, and which has just made public its findings. "The task," says the newspaper, "is so great that it is suflieieut to furnish work for every idle uian in Europe and for everyone else engaged in superfluous labour. The report shows the fallacy of the theory that emigration of 13,000,000 _to 15,000,000 persons from Germany is an economic necessity." The commission, in its report, said that tho work of reconstruction would have to be dono from "the ground up," especially in the departments of Pas do Calais, Courrierc, Lens, I.icvin, Drocourt, Carvin and Dourges, where the destruction was pronounced "terrible." Most of the mines have boen "drowned," it was said, and in rebuilding new shafts workers, would have to bo protected against tho inward pressure of water. A Froneh officer and a French mining official took tho German envoys through the devastated regions. The' Germans declared the work of restoration would not only bo one of great difficulty, but that, in many cases, it was impossible to ascertain the extent of tho damago dono to each mine. They also said it wae not easy to fix responsibility for tho destruction, because it was dono by numerous groups of troops and the records showing where each military unit was located and nt. what period were not complete or available.