RUINED FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1920, Page 6

RUINED FRANCE.

A GREAT RECOVERY. London, July 23. France has not waited for German help. Although much remains to" be J done, the revival of industrial and agri- | cultural production in the devastated J districts is already remarkable. I Let us take first the industrial census j made on May 1, 1920. Out of 3508 ; plants wrecked by the war (each of them numbering more than 20 employi ees), 2027 had resumed their activities by that date, that is 74.8 per cent, of ',j the whole. The proportion is not quite 1 as satisfactory from the standpoint of the number of men employed: while these plants used in 1014 670,138 employees, thev were utilising but 257,874 , men on May 1, 1920, that is 379 per [ cent, of the former, number. Still, the result is considerable enough, consider- , ing that it has been attained within one [ year and a half. j The figures concerning the revival of ; agriculture are equally worth mentioi.ing. About 1,724,000 hectares had been wrecked by the war. At the.present time 1,460,000 hectares have been already reconstituted, that is, more than fourfifths of the total. Moreover, 1,075.000 .hectares have already been ploughed, 727,000 have been sown. It is expected ■ that this year's crop in the liberated districts will already, reach about twothirds of the pre-war crops. All these results have be m reached in the face of innumerable difficulties, Mich as a want of machinery, want of shelter, or even want of safety, as many accidents occurred owing to the presence of unexploded shells. Last but not least, . the help from the. State has too often been erratic, if not sadly deficient! After all these circumstances have been taken into account, perhaps impartial observers will acknowledge that France has not waited for German money in I order to devote her full energy to re- • j building her ruined house,