CHAOS IN FRANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 July 1940, Page 7

CHAOS IN FRANCE

PETAIN CABINET SEEKING SCAPEGOATS TRIAL OF FORMER MINISTERS THREATENED. ECONOMIC & MONETARY DISORDER. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) i LONDON. July 24. The Petain Government is seeking s scapegoats for the' war against Geri many, while the French puplic is suffering bitterly from the chaotic finances resulting from a flood of German •' marks in the occupied areas. Cabinet announced that the. courts would examine the responsibility of MM. Dala- ' dier, Mandel, Campinchi, Delbos and other French Cabinet members for the 1 declaration and operation of the war against Germany. ’ M. Daladier, accompanied by a num- ■ her of deputies, arrived at Marseilles from French Morocco. He is forbidden to leave the city. ■ Cabinet also announced that M. Jean ■ Zay. former Minister of Education, M. • Paul Viennot, former Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, M. Mendesfrance, ■ as Under-Secretary in the Blum Cabin- ' ec, and a deputy, M. Wiltzer, would be I court-martialled as military deserters. ■ They are alleged to have embarked at Bordeaux, for Casablanca without ' authority. 1 A decree also approves the confiscation of property and withdrawal ol citizenship from Frenchmen who fled from France between May 10 and June 30 without permission. General de Gaulle and other prominent Frenchmen at present in London and America are included. The Finance Minister, M. Bouthillier. has arrived in Paris and is doing his utmost to create a semblance of order in the French finances. The means of payment for the simplest transactions frequently fail. The German mark in the occupied areas is fixed at the rate of 20 francs, compared with 11 before the war. German soldiers are taking advantage of their greater purchasing power and are indulging in shopping on a grand scale, which is making inroads on France's wealth. Financial newspapers state that this will lead to disaster unless the Germans agree to a more favourable rate. This is unlikely and the alternative solution of increased prices is impossible because the Germans severely punish shopkeepers for the slightest increase. Life in Paris consists of dreary housewives forming up in long queues to buy food while Germans are thronging all quarters and buying promiscuously. FREE FRENCHMEN ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTRE IN LONDON. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 23. It is understood that a number of Frenchmen temporarily exiled because of the present events in France decided at a meeting in London on Tuesday to establish a group in London under the title “Centre Francois d’Etudes Politiques et Economiques.” The objects are to gather information and establish facts regarding the political, economic and moral conditions in France and disseminate such information for the improvement of the French and the international situation. The independence of the thought and action of the centre is to be safeguarded and no financial support will be accepted from any Government. General de Gaulle has issued a statement dealing with the participation of French volunteers in air activity against Germany. He stated that the struggle would shortly be resumed on sea and land as well, and appealed to Frenchmen all over the world to take up arms or to resist the enemy by passive means. During the past few days the R.A.F. ( has dropped leaflets over France giving the facts about the French Fleet and the armistice. Daventry reports. It is intended to continue the dropping of leaflets, so that the French people may learn the facts about the war.