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Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1925, Page 2

The keen desire of the French to hold the Rhine has been understood for long. For centuries the French have looked upon the lthino as their natural frontier. The Right Hon. li. A. L. Fisher. M.P., in a recent article on

the French desire for guaranteed security, said: “The object of my ministry,” we read in the Latin testament of Richelieu, “is to restore Gaul her natural frontier.” Unconsciously, without diplomatic learning or experience of affairs, the men who guided French policy during the Revolution were animated by the same ideas. 1* roni 1789 to 1814 the object of Richelieu wa; realised. The bridgeheads of the Rhino were in the hands of Trance. Ai though the extravagance of Napoleon had the effect of losing for France the frontier which the arms ol the Revolution had acquired, and of bringing about the transfer of the Rhine provinces to Prussia, as the power moss likely to place an effectual curb on tbe exuberance of French ambitions, the Rhine kept calling to France ah through the nineteenth century. 4 hear a siren voice during the debates of the Bourbon Parliaments. It enters as a fashioning motive into the diplomacy of Napoleon 111. Cru.she: at Sedan the dream of Ruheliou is re vived by the -Marne. Long before the Armistice was signed the Comite tie la Rive Gauche du Rliin had formed its plan for Die restitution of the Rhine frontier to France, ‘'ll we do not hold the Rhine permanently,” wrote Marshal Focli on March MI, 1919, “there is no neutrality, disarmament

or written clause of any nature which

can prevent Germany from seizing the Rhine and making it the basis lor a successful advance. No help coming from England or America could avert a disaster from the Northern plains or shelter France from a complete defeat. We should he compelled to withdraw our armies beyond the Somme, the Seine and the Loire in order to await the help of our Allies/'

Mn ('uA.uni'.ni.AiN recently gave the House of C'oihiiioi.s a deeply interest-

ing account of \ hat is being done u it!, the new steel house with which Lord Weir is experimenting on a large s ale. stated the "Daily Telegraph.” Instead of its Icing “a sort of petrol tin” as some people envisage it, Mr Chamberlain described it as quite a sightly dwelling, composed of a timber frame, with a steel outside, and inside walls of compressed pulp which look like cardboard. There is no intention of forcing these steel houses upon the people. The idea is to let the people see them and judge for themselves. Lord Weir is ready to supply the local authorities with

spcv illicit houses, and the municipalities will erect them for show in convenient plains where they can he seen and examined by the largest possible number. Their cost, not yet jpved, must obviously dcqxMid on the demand, for these houses can he standardised, and the more popular they are the cheaper they can he produced. The ( haiicellor of the Kxcheqiicr has consented to set aside a small grant for the purpose of covering the expense of tlie.se local exhibitions, and the experiment therefore, promises scon to be the .subject of general discussion. Moreover, as Mr Chambciiaiu said, if the steel house is successful. it will provide work lor thousands of unemployed in the engineering trade, and unit factories would soon spring up all over the country. The House listened with immense interest to this part of the speech, hut it was curious to note with what obvious suspicion the steel house is regarded on the Labour honel’.es. many members being evidently tear! ill as to the ell'e. l it may have on the Imil.ling unions and the emit ol the bricklayer and plasterer. They were the onlv reactionaries.