Adopted by the Council.

Transcription

1 C SOCIETE DES NATIONS Communicated to the Council. Genova. March 17th 1926 S A A R B A S I N DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL GENDARMERIE AND PRESENCE OF FRENCH TROOPS Report "by M. Scialoja Adopted by the Council. I. On March 14th 1925 the Counoil adopted the following Resolution : "The Council of the League of Nations, After having hoard the Italian Roprosontative1s Report, the observations of the Representative of Great Britain, and the explanations of tho Chairman of the Governing Commission: vl. Approves tho Governing Commission s proposal to increaso the local gendarmerie by 250 men during the financial year 1925/26 ; 2. Requests the Governing Commission to submit to it, for consideration, a report on the manner in which it would be possible, in the absence of troope, to carry into effect sub-paragraph 3 of Paragraph 30 of the Saar Annex to tho Treaty of Versailles, which lays down that it will bo the duty of the Governing Commission to provide in all cases for tho protection of persons and property in the Saar Basin. In preparing its report, the Governing Commission should take into aocount the possibility of obtaining the assistance of troops stationed outside the Saar Territory; 3. Requests tho Soorctary-Genoral to communioato a copy of this resolution to tho Gorman Government, in reply to its Nota of February 19th 1925n. II. In response to the Council1s roquost, the Governing Commission submitted, on January 28th 1926 a Report, which has been communicated to us, containing information which may be summarised as follows :

2 1). ith regard to tho first paragraph of tho Council resolution, the Governing Commission states that the progranime for the development of the local gendarmerie during the year 1925/26 will have hoon carried out on March 31st 1926 on which date the strength of tho local gendarmerie will do 1,005 men. This force is divided into rural gendarmerie, comprising 382 men in tho different districts of the territory, to which should be added 50 cion permanently placed at tho disposal of the Police Headquarters of the town of âaarbruck, and the mobile gendarmerie of 573 men, 100 of whom are mounted* Tho Commission has decided to concentrate tho mobile gendarmerie in the caoital of the territory, at tho immediate disposal of tho authorities responsible for keeping order. The Commission then examines tho question whether the total of 1,005 gendarmes should bu exceeded, and whether a programme for the further development of the local gendarmerie should bo drawn up for the financial year 1926/27, and states that, after careful examination of the question, it has been decided by a majority of votes, 3-21 tho negative. The Governing Commission will, in normal circumstances, have at its disposal for tho maintenance of order, the above mentioned forces, to which should bo addud tho 221 men of tho Saarbruck town lolico, and 338 policemen in tho other localities of the Territory. Thoso various detachments appear to the Governing Commission to bo strong enough to perform in ordi times the duties which fall to the gendarmerie and to tho

3 muni o ip cl police. In th.3 opinion o «lie Governing Courais s ion, it v<oui & de undesire ole to incréa 30 the numbers of the local gendarmerie, as there oxill in normal times be no sufficient occupation for all the non, and as already the strength of gemdarmes mill involve an ezcpen"iture of 15 million francs in the financial year , an expenditure which constitutes a heavy burden for the territory, owing, to the not very favourable budgetary position, and to the general economic circumstances which are not at present encouraging. (2) With regard to the second paragraph of the Council resolution, the report of the Governing Commission makes the following statements : Although the above-mentioned number of the local gendarmerie is amply sufficient to provide for the maintenance of order in normal circumstances, it is distinctly inadequate to allow the Governing Commission 71to provide in all cases for the protection of persons and property.n The Commission states that the task which the Treaty of Pee.ce assigns to it in this matter is particularly difficult. The Saar 3asin consists of broken country, in which over-populated valleys are separated by vast stretches of forest, favourable to clandestine meetings. The average density of the population is to-day 411 inhabitants per square km. In the case of a general strike of the industries, almost all the inhabitants would oe affected. The duty of the Governing Commission, as representative of the League of ïïations, is to protect persons and property in j oaar 3a s in. Inc 1 a >_ _e d i^i.«...

4 iris property are the Fran oh States kines, large metallur i. C - 1 J. establisbxaents and the constructi ons an6 installations ox tho raitv;a./ system, which is s one 400 km..long. 2hs very intense traffic carried by these lines is indispensable to the despatch and transport of the products of the nines, for which the 'r-'jat.; of Zoaca mokes the ~ovz rning Commis si on responsible, and to the international communications -which the Governing Commission must be- in a position to safeguard in all circumstances. For the n to tact ion of this property/ the league of liât ions represented by the 3overain s Commission is answerable to the population of the oaar and to the ovciers of this property, particularly to France, the o «ne r of the n in e s, and to Germany, the owner of the Railway systan a which the Governing Commission has only the right of user. Tho Governing Commission therefore states that it would only be able to undertake these grave responsibilities in all cases if the number of the local gendarmerie was increased to at least «5,000 mon. The financial resources of the territory, ha/vever, would never permit the gendarmerie to be maintained on a sufficiently large scale, and moreover, this gendarmerie would oo a local force recruited in a district oi small ex tent from men belonging to the people among whom the,, would nave to perform their duties. The 3-ovarning Commission was authorised by the decision of the Council of olruary 15th, 1920 to have "the rower to demand the xaaintenance or return ox all or -nart of the troops called up to preserve order, if necessary, till tho establishment of a gendarmerie cl the Saar, as

5 - 5 - provitied for in paragraph SO of the oaar nnex to the Treaty of Peace*" This gendarmerie now seams to have reacted it s full development. In view of the tasks entrusted to it by the Treaty of Peace, the Governing Commission is however convinced that to be in a position to provide in all cases for the protection of persons and property in the Saar Basin it is essential that it should be.-«titled at any time and immediately, to call upon the troops stationed outside the Saar Territory end in the vicinity of its frontiers. This possibility was c on template d by the Council of the league of B at ions in its resolution of anarch 14th, 1925, quoted above, and the Governing Commission considers that it also results from the quoted Treaty stipulations. Referring to 'oai a.33 of the Saar Annex to t he Treaty of Versailles, under which the Governing Commission has a right to settle questions of interpretation, the Commission now declares that it interprets this stipulation as meaning that in case of need it is entitled without delay and on its own responsibility to call u-.-on military forces stationed outside the Saar Basin, in order to "Provide for the protection of persons and property within the Basin and particularly cî the mining installations and railway system, the exploitation of which must be ensured in every eventuality and by all suitable means. It declares that only the power of having recourse to troops outside the Torritoly can enable it to fulfil one of the most important obligations laid upon it by the Treaty of Peace. 3. Pin ally, as regards the question of the presence of Trench troo'-'æ in the Te rrito ïy, t he governing Commission s tat es t hat, s in ce t h > 25u g e n ciarme s recruited during

6 ~ 6 ~ tho financial yoar, will take up their duties on...arch 31st, 19 26, it has asked the French Government to with draw from the 2orritor - a battalion of light infantry (chasseurs à pied) stationed at oaarbruck, so that the garrison troops v;i 11 only consist of one regiment of infantry and one roglrunt of C O C 1 y1r * cl I 9 III. '-'he French lovern.b nt fcrs c o.; firme d time information given on this subject in the G0 vsrr.i:z: Commission's report and has announced that by lia y 31st nazi the Battalion of Chasseurs v ill have bee:: entire ly withdrawn. It has further stated that the withdrawal of the remainder of the troops stationed in the Territory will th en to proceeded with step by step* Pending the- completion of this withdrawal, the attention of the Governing Commission should be drawn to the fact that it is its duty to ensure, in all cases, freedom of transport and transit over the railways of the Territory, and the measures required for this purpose should be. prepared, in particular a railway committee possessing the necessary powers should at tho disposal of the Governing Commission. The Council will no doubt be of opinion that the Commission should be invited to submit to it proposals on tiil- \ subject for consideration at its next session. 'ansoluticti. -x T he Co u ceil n o to s t h e re p o rt o i t h e Go v e rn in g Commission aid approves the conclusions ox the Italian r:ep re s a ntat iv e 1s ren ort.