NEWS FROM FRANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1940, Page 9

NEWS FROM FRANCE

WITHDRAWAL OF M. DALADIER

CAUSES GREAT SURPRISE THE POLITICAL SITUATION. (From Our Paris Correspondent). PARIS. April 1. The withdrawal of M. Daladier came as a great surprise, made greater when it was learned that he had felt obliged to decline to form a new Cabinet. As soon as it was known, a re-

action set in, and on all sides his

friends appealed to him to carry on. It was perhaps something of this sympathy that caused the reception of his successor, M. Reynaud, to be so cool. After the very narrow vote that the new premier received on his first contact with the Chamber of Deputies, it was thought he, too, would resign. But M. Reynaud decided to fight on, and that decision at once brought him sympathisers. Overnight his stock went up, and though he started with so small a majority his chances of staying in are considered more than fair.

It is pointed out that the ministry that lasted longest, a little over three years, at first had only a small vote. It is interesting to recall that the Third Republic itself was only voted by a single vote majority in 1875. It was intended as a temporary standby waiting for the Due de Chambord to mount the throne of France. He, however, wanted the tricolour to be changed for a return to the white flag of Henri IV, which put him right out of the running. The chair of the president of the assembly that voted the Third Republic was so arranged that it was all ready to be used as a throne.

The significance of the withdrawal of M. Daladier and the small vote given, to his successor was naturally misinterpreted by the Germans, who at once put up notices in front of the French cutposts inviting all the misguided French soldiers fighting Wicked Great Britain’s war to put aside their rifles and return home. The impolite French replied with sharp gunfire. The significance of the whole parliamentary incident is determination to win the war. The abstentions of Deputies, which caused M. Daladier to withdraw, was not an act of hostility to his government but a warning hint that more energetic action was expected of him. And if,' when M. Reynaud presented a large ministry, where it had been thought he would come before the Chamber with a smaller cabinet, as had been clamoured for, if he got so small a vote it was again because energetic action was being called for in the prosecution of the war. He soon made it clear that he had included a war cabinet within the ministry, a war cabinet large enough to deliberate effectively, small enough to act promptly. His broadcast speech to the nation was well received, and as he is konwn for his energy and decision, his majority, it is expected, will grow rapidly. Whatever the change, one thing is unchanged and that is the determination of France to fight on, side by side with Great Britain, to victory. France is little interested in trying to fill in the blanks of the crossword puzzle of what Signor Mussolini said to Herr Hitler. Ail she is interested in is that no French soldier is going back to the old nightmare of mobilisation every six months, and no one is going to stop fighting until definite and concrete guarantees have been obtained against any possible return of German aggression. After that, and not before, France will be willing to discuss peace terms with anyone who wants to collaborate and not dominate. The way will be hard—it is expected that it will be hard—but the French have set their hand to the task and will not waver.

But will the task be so hard? People in France are beginning to wonder. The spirit, or lack of spirit, of the German sailors of the Graf von Spee as now revealed does not speak too highly for German morale, and if reports printed in “Le Temps” really i epresent what took place within the last few days in Germany, all is far from well in that country. A dictator is always at a great disadvantage in one respect, for opposition is driven underground and no man can tell how great or how widespread 'it is. Graf von Spee mutiny, mutiny of troops in Bohemia, over a trifling incident it is true, but mutiny all the same.. A letter from a Roman Catholic priest to a friend in France, sent by the intermediary of a neutral country, published by “La Croix,” the Roman Catholic newspaper in Paris, tells of wide dissatisfaction against the Nazis in the interior and in the front lines. Perhaps after all peace is not too far away. It certainly did not look far away at Easter in Paris. But for sandbags and uniforms, with many British among them, it might have been a peace-time Easter. Children in the Tuileries Gardens looked wide-eyed at the barrage balloon crouching on the ground like a great green animal, and little boys in the Luxembourg Gardens explained the machine gun nests, but soon turned away to run to the Guignol, the punch and judy show, at the clanging of the showmen’s bell, or to hire small model sailing boats and set them on the artificial lakes and shout with excitement as their white sailed ventures skimmed towards the splashing fountain in the middle.

British soldiers in greater numbers came to Paris, and with the warmer touch of weather they were able to enjoy the pleasure of sitting at the small round tables outside the cafes on the Boulevards and watch the wonderful crowd go by. The R.A.F. looked particularly smart, but one wonders why they always walk so quickly, almost flying. The British soldier at Easter got everywhere, and was to be seen in the Bois de Boulogne, along beside the Seine, as far south as Montparnasse, and as far north as the summit ol Montmartre, where from the steps of the church of Sacre Coeur he had a panorama view of all Paris at his feet. Military police, with their red hats, were something new for the French, and they looked very dignified and serious. One little Parisienne with a small knowledge of English explained to her friend that “M.P.” meant Member of Parliament.

Quite a number of British soldiers on leave got out to the Bois de Boulogne early on Sunday to see the team of British junior runners competing in the international junior cross-country against teams representing Franco and Belgium. Though Aaren, the young Yorkshire champion, came in first after a fine race in which he ran with his head as much as with his feet, the French won the event with a fair margin, with eight men in the first ten. The Belgians were right out of

it. and appeared to lack experience in big events.

Two places popular with the British troops on leave were the Social Centre, in the Champs Elysees, and the Leave Club, on the Place de la Republique. Here an S.O.S. had to be sent out for dancing partners, responded to very willingly by a number of Red Cross nurses only too happy to oblige, tend everyone had a jolly time, Lady Moore looking on smiling and happy. She is doing a great work at the Leave Club, a work which brings her memories of the last war.

Little incidents give an idea of how much this war is everybody’s war in France. The “Auto.” a French daily sports paper, printed a paragraph that a well-known French boxer on leave, came with his manager, also on leave, to pay them a visit, and the manager announced that another of his team would be arriving in a couple of days, also on leave.