FRENCH PROBLEM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1943, Page 4

FRENCH PROBLEM

PEYROUTON APPOINTMENT IN NORTH AFRICA STATEMENT BY AMERICAN MINISTER. NO OBJECTION RAISED BY ALLIES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, February 8. M. Marcel Peyrouton’s recent appointment as Governor-General of Algeria was approved by both the American State Department and the British Foreign Office, said the United States Minister to North Africa, Mr Murphy, in a Press conference at Algiers. General Eisenhower had the final power of disapproval, but neither the general nor the British and American Foreign Office officials, who regarded the appointment as purely an internal French matter, registered the slightest objection. No Allied pressure was being exerted to speed up a complete governmental union between Generals Giraud and de Gaulle, Mr Murphy said. ‘’We believe in giving them time to work out their own solution. It is a French problem, and we cannot force it,” he added. The Algiers correspondent of “The Times” says that M. Peyrouton, who' was deeply perturbed by the criticismsl in the House of Commons and the British Press, recalled in an interview that, following the armistice of 1940, when he was on a special mission to Tunis he broadcast that though! France was at the moment defeated her empire remained intact as a guarantee of future revenge. He had also said then that the time .had not ar-1 rived to take up fighting in Africa, because there were insufficient men and materials in the country, but that later things would change, allowing of Al-' lied landings on a great scale. M. Peyrouton, in the interview, added that General Giraud’s arrival had made possible the resumption of the war which, since October, 1940, had been planned by a group of Frenchmen who remained in France for that one purpose. M. Peyrouton said: “I do not wish to be anything more than the administrator of Algiers. I bring my African experience, a sincere desire for a union of Frenchmen, and, above all, complete determination to carry on the war.” M. Peyrouton proposes to seek the advice of non-political elected bodies and professional men, and proposes to summon for example, a permanent, war economy committee composed of former members of the Chambers of Commerce and Agriculture, the correspondent says. This “Algerian parliament” will discuss and vote upon the Algerian budget. M. Peyrouton admitted that such consultative bodies would not conform to the peace time idea of representation by popular election, but he pointed out that this is war time, and said that those who are called in will be selected solely for their ability and efficiency. M. Peyrouton refused, for the same reason,! to embark upon a purge of his administration on political grounds. “I demand complete devotion to the Allies’ cause, and I shall not hesitate to dismiss recalcitrants,” he said.