HOW A NATION IS ROBBED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 44, 22 February 1916, Page 2

HOW A NATION IS ROBBED.

MORE WAR CONTRACT SCANDALS

During December there were some heated debates in the French Chamber of Deputies over certain army contracts, the matter having been initiarc'd by M. Simynn, who raised the subject in a three hours' speech crowded with detailed evidence. He was Minister of Posts and Telegraphs at the time of the postal strike in 1910. and is a leading Socialist-Radical Deputy.- He cited a number of cases in which “men (or women) of straw” ar e alleged to have obtained large contracts. In one case a woman, associated with a man having 20 convictions against him, had founded in Die centre or Paris,, between the Elysce and the Madeleine, a philanthropic work-room, where, under pretext of making articles of clothing for soldiers, she exploited both her work-women and the charitable public. This woman, an exchambermaid, had posed as a countess, then as a Russian princess. She had obtained a contract from an army officer in Paris, and an official inquiry had apparently not been pursued. £3,000 ADVANCED. An agent for the sale of small businesses, representing himself as a manufacturer with 1,700 workers, obtained, in October. 191-1, with the aid of an of-

ficiai- of the Ministry concerned, a con

J Vaet for, nearly £40,000. He asked for •m advance of £IB,OOO and received £3,000. The goods, -when delivered, were of bad quality, and were refused.

The agent and the official were arrest

ed and then released, and the affair was forgotten. Mr. Gnillemotot, a con-

tractor for public works, is alleged to have received a contract for 1,500.000 nairs of socks at 20 francs a dozen and ‘o have obtained an advance of a free' a pal’. He got his seeks together, pavbig on an average 10 francs a down tor them; but the Government found oart of tip- delivery impossible to •’<*- '•■■jot. He had incurred a penaPy of £BO,OOO, but it was still being discuss-

ed what should be claimed of him. An offer of M. Voisin and flic master tailors of Paris to supply uniforms at cos! nrice, said M. Simyan, had been retimed, and a contract at a much higher

figure had been given to a Paris fi - r hv an offic : a’ who proved to be one- of Mie chief beneficiaries bv the trance.''

Men. In passing, M. Simyah referred to hvo affairs that have long been a submet of discussion —that of one Baumann. form u'ly manager of tho Gor•hoil flour mills, who. as a Government agent, is alleged to have made large

and improper ] p’Ofits on buying wheat and flour, and that of the French Cod fish Company, in which- a trial for fraud is believed to have bora unsatisfactorily conducted. A LONDON - HOESE DEALER.

Various acts of alleged favouritism having been cited, M. Simyau passed to a metre serious ease, concerning + lvs horse-dealing transactions of a person in London. It is stated that between August, 19.14, and last January the "French Ministry of War concluded with this individual three contracts; the first two for 10,000 horse's at £54 < a horse, and the last for 20,000, the total value exceeding £2,000,000. M. Simvan read a report by General de la Garenne, inspector of-remounts,-on the affaiSr. A retired cavalry officer named L’Hebray Pounds introduce'd the man in question, and guaranteed his character, a service for which, it turned out, he received £BO,OOO. There was also an interpreter who received £28,000 for effort. Fonzols had bee'll a petty financier, and the interpreter is believed to have been mixed up with the famous Eoc’iette, the great bogus company and bank promoter of five or six years ago. The horses were received at Bordeaux by a certain Marquis dc Creveeoevfr. also said to have been an associate of Eoehette. who received a commission of £4 a horse. BOA ED OF TEADE WAENTNG.

In the contract of September 25. stipulation was made for third of the profits plus a sum of £4 a horse. Warnings were Teceived by the French authorities from their representatives

m London and Now York, and from the British- Board of Trade. Nevertheless, on October 11 the person in London made a contract with General Ancellin, Director of Cavalry, the price being advanced from £sl to £57 a horse. On January 25, 1915, the third contract for 20,000 horses at £56 was signed This last, contract, however, was ultimately cancelled. There was another contract fcfr 25,000 horses (in which D’Hebray was also concerned) made by a man described in a report to the Controller of the Army as a ConsulGeneral in London. The' next development was a difference leading to the issue, of w)rits in London and Paris over the division of the spoils. There was yet another contract of D ’Hebray with a British firm, but this was not ccmpleted. It need hardly be added that M. Simyan’s revelations caused a genuine sensation.