FRANCE UNITED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 April 1939, Page 8

FRANCE UNITED

APPEAL FOR SACRIFICE MINISTER ON NEW DECREES. CONTEST WITH TOTALITARIAN REGIME. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) t PARIS, April 21. After a long Cabinet meeting, at which new decrees were approved, affecting every branch of France’s economic life, the Finance Minister, M. Paul , Reynard, made a broadcast appeal to 1 the nation for sacrifices. He claimed , that France was now united. The more J' she was threatened ,the greater she '( grew. Her strength had never been so l . necessary to herself and to the world. . What could England do if France dis--1 apeared. Whar could even great Amer- • ica do? Nobody believed that the isolation of France in Europe could assure her of the independence and integrity of her empire. It only remained to re- ■ store the balance of power in Europe. Great victories had been won during • the past fourteen months in the heart of Europe, solely by the output of her adversaries’ war factories. ! “We have seen whole countries de- • scend silently into the tomb of history,” said M. Reynard. France, like her ally. Britain, had decided upon a great ef- • fort, which represented a trial - of ■ strength between a totalitarian regime and France’s regime of liberty. M. Reynaud added that the Government had decided to increase the working week to forty-five hours. The workers would not suffer, because overtime would be paid for .the extra

hours. If lhe people stpocl together peace would be saved. He claimed that France’s financial position was strong. France today had one of the sanest currencies in Europe. He referred to the immense reserves of the Bank of France and announced that the gold reserves of the stabilisation fund were so large that it had been decided to transfer £23,000,000 from the fund to the Bank of France. Industrial production had increased since November by twelve per cent. The State would take five to eighty, or even a hundred per cent of the profits of war industries, according to a scale drawn up. The decrees include measures for the suppression of propaganda carried on by means of funds from abroad, feeding the population in war lime, a cut in the wheat subsidy, income tax changes, a one per cent sales tax, and the reduction of public works schemes. Experts . estimate that the decrees will bring France’s extraordinary armaments expenditure in eight months to 439 millions sterling.