THE FRENCH STRIKE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10120, 15 October 1910, Page 5

THE FRENCH STRIKE.

LEADERS ARRESTED.

TRAINS AT A bTANDSTILL

(Received October 14, 8.40 a.m.) PARIS, October 13.

Five leaders of the railway strike, including M. Taffin, president of tliQ Drivers' and Firemen's Association, have been quietly arrested. Twentv furtiier arrests are expected.

LONDON, October 13.

Motor firms are organising a cheap and effective motor service for passengers between London and Paris. Owing to the strike, seventeen trains are at a standstill at Poissy, fifteen miles west-north-west of Paris.

M. Briand, the French Prime Minister, addressing a gathering of journalists, said the ringleaders of the railway strike had committed an act of rebellion. Whoever the rank and file of the strikers were there was no control exercised, and acts of criminal violence had occurred.

These things, said the Premier, had been done at a moment when the demands made by the men were being favourably considered, including the making of pensions retrospective. The preconcerted scheme of the ringleaders was criminal.

(Received October 11, 10.45 a.m.) LONDON, October 13. The Australian mails are, being sent by way of Ostend and Brindisi, and the homeward mails will take a similar route.

The general secretary of the railway men in Paris and two others have boon arrested.

Voluminous correspondence was seized.

(Received October 14, 10.45 a.m.) PARIS, October 13.

A plan elaborated some time ago to revictual Paris by water is now being adopted, with every prospect of success.

(Received October 14, 1.10 p.m.) PARIS, October 13.

The Railway Men's Strike Committee has offered to meet the Premier (M. Briand) and the companies, to discuss the situation. SOCIALISTS AND ANARCHISTS. DEFYING ARREST. STRIKE COMMITTEE'S MANIFESTO. (Received Last Night, 9.10 o'clock.) PARIS, October 14. The ringleaders of the strike were arrested at the office of the Socialist organ, "Humanite," wllere / they had foregathered. The presence of M. Jaures Vaillant and the staff of the Anarchist journal, "Guerre. Sociale,"amidst the revolutionary surrounding of the arrest, is regarded as fully confirming M. Briand's view of the strike. The Times' Paris correspondent states that up to the last the professional agitators appear to have imagined that the authorities would not dare to invade the sacred precincts of the Socialist journal, and the union leaders defied arrest by pretending to invite it.

They passed Hie night at the "Humanite" office. Some of them talked; others played cards, and some slept. Those who.were keeping vigil fortified themselves with champagne.

The Strike Committee's manifesto stated that the mobilisation. order was illegal, since in times of peace a man was entitled to a fortnight's grace before responding. \The men are enjoined not to obey.

It is stated vxmt the Government can, if necessary, summon to the colours time-expired two-years' service men. who were discharged last month.

A workman at Versailles has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for endeavouring to induce s a soldier to desert. ' , EDITORS ARRESTED. GARRISONS BEING STRENGTHENED. TRAMWAY MEN STRIKE. (Received Last Night, 10.25 o'clock.) PARIS, October 14. M.'s Merle,_ Almey, and Reida, editors of the Anarchist paper "Guerre Sociale," have been arrested. The Strike Committee's letter to M. Briand-emanated from the Committee secretary before his arrest.

M. Briand, interviewed by "The Temps," said the Government was always open to receive any of the railway men's conciliatory proposals which would lead to an amicable settlement. Subsequently the Directors intimated their willingness to discuss the claims of the staff, through M. Briand. I The services eastern of Orleans and J from Paris to Lyons are almost nor- ! inal.

One-third of the northerners resolved that the electricians' strike should be partial.

The Elysee, Latin, St. Lazare, and several other quarters are without I electricity and electric restraints, and | the shops have been compelled to use ! candles and gas.

'An Engineer Corps has occupied the electric and hydraulic power stations. ' The garrisons have been considerably reinforced with infantry and cavalrv.

The tramway men in eastern Paris have struck. Two battalions of infantry have reinforced the police in the Elysee. Infernal machines were exploded in the Rue Berri, and a house was badly damaged. The improvement in the northern .service was due to the mobilisation. The mobilised men wore white armbands, indicating that they were reservists. One hundred, and fifty thousand railway men have been ' ordered ' to mobilise in forty-eight hours. They will be punishable for disobedience after a fortnight.