THE FRENCH STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 159, 14 October 1910, Page 5

THE FRENCH STRIKE.

THE MOVEMENT EXTENDING. PROVISIONING OF PARIS BECOMING SERIOUS. LINES TORN UP. MOBILISATION ORDERS DISOBEYED. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Paris, October 12. Seven thousand kinds in the railway shops at Lille and llellemes have joined the strike. Troops guard the chief bridges and stations on the Northern Railway. If all the Western men strike, an additional 42,000 will be aflected. One hundred and twenty thousand dwellers in Paris and the suburbs use the line. Men on the Eastern and Western and Lyons and Mediterranean railways have decided to strike to-day. The agitation as to the high prices of food accentuates the strikers' determination to obtain an increase of wages. The provisioning of Paris has already become a serious question. Only half the usual supplies were received to-day. The strike delays all European mails, and the cutting of telegraph wires has disorganised the Paris and Northern telephone service.

A train was approaching Paris at a high speed wiien it was founi that the Westinghouse brake had been tampered with. The train dashed into the Austerlitz station, but fortunately tne line was clear and an accident was averted. The (Matin says that the lines in the vicinity of the Belgian frontier have been torn up. At a large meeting of railway men lield at the Labor Exchange it was resolved to flisobey the mobilisation order directing them to work trains. London, October 12. English passenger traffic to the Continent is demoralised. The route to Ostend is now being utilised, as not a sfagle passenger crossed in the CalaisDover boat. . TRAFFIC PARALYSED. MMDS AND MERCHANDISE ACCUMULATING. MORE MEN JOIN THE STRIKERS. PARIS ELECTRICIANS PROCLAIM A STRIKE. CITY MAY BE PLUNGED IN DARKNESS. Received 13, 10.25 p.m. Paris, October 18. Mobilisation orders have been issutd summoning the workmen of all the railways, except those employed in connection with the Midi system for 21 days' service, beginning to-morrow. Four hundred railwaymen at Lille resolved to disobey the mobilisation orders. Partial strikes have broken out at VerAilles, Rouen, Rennes and Havre. Troops occupy these stations. The strikers blocked the lines in the Parision suburbs and held up the trains. The gendarmes threatened to shoot strikers interfering with the trains. Drivers destroyed the signals and stopped cattle trains near Asniares, opened the trucks and allowed the cattle to escape.

The boats and trains at Dieppe are crowded with passengers for England, who are unable ,to get beyond Acheres. They are returning to Paris. The traffic on the western stations, St. lAzare and Invalides are at a standstill. A driver, for leaving an engine outside Pontoise, was sentenced to two months' imprisonment. The public prosecutor is prosecuting the ringleaders. Heavy goods from Paris to Britain are being forwarded by barges on the (Seine. The parcels traffic has been suspended. Several of the station staff at Rouen and 3000 workers of the railway workshops have struck. Three hundred men out of " HO at Boulogne have struck, including many drivers and stokers. Those still driving are escorted by gendarmes. The Paris metropolitan electricians have proclaimed a general strike. The city will possibly be plunged in semidarkness. > Passengers from Calais to England are few. There are no French flowers and no vegetables. Tickets from London to Paris via Calais and Boulogne are being issued at passengers' risk. Very few are crossing from either direction. There are no bookings via Newhaven beyond Dieppe, except at passengers' risk. The service between Berlin and Paris, via Boulogne, is completely interrupted. Automobiles are bringing passengers from Jeumont. Freight is accumulating on the frontiers of Eastern France.

AUTHORITIES GIVING WAY. SOME OF THE STRIKERS RETURNING. NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENT REPORTED. Received IS, 10.35 p.m. Paris, October 13. The railway authorities have conceded some of the men's demands. M. Millerand, Minister for Post and Telegraphs, announced that the mail service to England is assured and adds that 128 trains entered and left the northern terminus of Paris yesterday. A noticeable improvement is reported. All the usual trains left the eastern terminus of Paris. The service is now normal. Seven hundred tacks of letters, comprising the last United States mail, which

were stranded at Havre, were brought up the Seine to Paris by a tug. A number of strikers on the northern railway have resumed work. CONSPIRACY AGAINST SAFETY OF STATE. PROPOSAL TO TRY AGITATORS. Received October 14, 12.30 a.m. London, October 13. The limes Paris correspondent states that it is suggested in some quarters that agitators should be tried by the Senate as a high court of justice on a charge of conspiracy against the safety of the State. Paris is dependent on the Northern Railway for coal and flour; on the Western for meat, fish and milk; and on Lyons and the Mediterranean for fruit and vegetables. The prices of perishables have been raised 20 per cent. The Bourse is firm, believing the situation untenable and cannot last MOBILISATION TO BE ENFORCED. DRASTIC PENALTIES. Received October 14, 12.30 a.m. Paris. October 13. Passengers on the first train running the gauntlet from Paris to Calais subscribed a purse for Charlet, the driver, who has been twenty-eight years in the company's service. Strikers at Amiens stoned Charlet's engine. There are 500 strikers at Calais, mostly handlers of coal and carriage cleaners. Mobilisation will be stringently enforced, and the men are liable to be court-martialled as in war time for insubordination and incitement to desertion, or wanton desertion, also for proceedings calculated to endanger the public services' safety. The penalties are extremely heavy.

A shot was fired at the driver of the mail boat train near Amiens. GENERAL STRIKE THREATENED. Received October 14, 1 a.m. Paris, October 13. The National Union of Railwaymen's Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Executive Committee resolved to strike throughout the system at midnight. Employees on the Orleans railways railway have struck. On July Bth last the Paris correspondent of the Times reported that the agitation amongst the railwaymen in favor of a general strike was assuming a serious aspect. The National Union of Railwaymen counted on the obedience of at least 50.000 employees, but there were over 2©3,000 others believed to be opposed to the plan of a strike, and these were regarded as being aware that an entire population would look upon the strikers as traitoTs to the national interests. The Government had already taken measures to thwart the plans of the strike leaders, who counted on paralysing traffic, and it was expected that in the case of a strike the authorities would order a military mobilisation of the railwaymen in the capacity of reservists, as was formerly done in Italy. They would likewise hold the strike leaders criminally responsible for any act of sabotage on the railway lines.