FRANCE AND VENEZUELA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8036, 24 January 1906, Page 3

FRANCE AND VENEZUELA.

President Castro derided some lime ) ajo to cancel the concession of the , French Cable Company, on llie "round thiit Olivers of the Company had dii viilgcd to tile rebel lender, General , Matos, three years ago, the contents of ■ the telegrams of the Venezuelan War Olliee, He had obtained possession of telegrams that iiad passed between the French Yicc-Consul at Caracas and Matos, and between M. Paul Julia, general manager of the Cable Companv, ami French officials, A telegram from 31. Julia informed the French officials m Venezuela that General Matos was being supported by the French Foreign Office, whose head at that time was 31. Deleasse. The telegrams sent by the French representative m Venezuela, 31. Quievreux, show how he collected news, with the aid of the cable operators, as to the movements of Ihe Go-: vcrnmeut troops, and how he again distributed this news to the revolutionary chiefs, again in complicity with the Company. They show how, in an extraordinary manner, the Cable Company violated the secrecy of communication by making known to the captain of a French warship the telegrams sent by the commander of a Venezuelan gunboat to President Castro, after having been instructed to do so by the Vice-Consul of France. M. Quicvreux, French Vice-Consul at Caracas, committed suicide in Paris on his learning that President Castro had obtained possession of these documents, though he ha.l been convinced by the Cable Coni]i my that he was carrying out the wishes of the French Foreign Office. The Venezuelan Government was proceeding against the Cable Company for , complicity in the rebellion of General \ Matos when diplomatic relations were broken off. ,