NEWS OF THE WEEK
WE deal in our leading columns with the important events which have occurred in France and Germany. On Wednesday, January 28th, as we briefly recorded last week, M. Herriot made a sensational speech in the Cham- ber of Deputies in which he accused Germany of having gravely infringed the Treaty of Versailles by failure to disarm, and made an extremely strong appeal for French security. There is, of course, nothing new in M. Herriot emphasizing that he cares about security as much as anyone. But it was the methods by which this end was to be obtained that were new and remarkable: He seems to have abandoned the idea that the Allied occupation of the first " zone " in the Rhineland Vas simply being continued for a short time beyond its Treaty limit, in order to compel the German Government to put right the deficiencies in disarmament which the Allied Commission are expected to point out in their Report. He now takes the line that the occupaiion of the Rhineland -and the retention of the .Rhine frontier are essentials to French security, so long as that is not guaranteed -by England- and -America.- It may easily be imagined that this speech has caused a great stir in Germany.
