prevents the construction of tracks with small gradients apd wide curves. The best solution of the problem is to be found in a new line, 1 15 m. long, connecting the Orleans system, near Limoges, with the P.-L.-M. railway near St. Germain-des-Fosses. This would shorten the journey between Bordeaux and Lyons by over three hours, but financial considerations have been adverse.
Shipping. France, in 1914, had seven shipbuilding yards with the following number of drydocks from 300 to 600 ft. long : Chantiers de France 5, Chantiers de St. Nazaire et Penhoet 4, Chantiers de Normandie 5, Chantiers de la Loire 7, Chantiers de la Gironde 4, Chantiers de Provence 6, Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee (La Seyne and Havre) II. Other shipyards of smaller dimensions were: Chantiers Normand 3, Delaunay-Belleville 2, Chantiers Dubigeon 2, Chantiers de Bretagne 4, Dyle et Bacalan 3, Societe Provencale 2, Barriel 4. There were also yards at St. Malo, Paimpol, etc., for the construction of wooden vessels. The output of these yards before the war is shown in Table 18, based on Bureau Veritas figures.
TABLE 18. Shipbuilding Output.
Steamers
Sailing Vessels
i No.
Tonnage
No.
Tonnage
1912 41 1913 3'
1914 22
124,665 105,820 93,830
66
35
18
9,000 6,068 2,353
The figures for vessels purchased abroad in 19124 are shown in Table 19.
TABLE 19. Steamers Purchased Abroad.
Steamers
Sailing Vessels
No.
Tonnage
No.
Tonnage
1912
1913 1914
62
77 '7
96,858
79,379 30,416
10
5 3
2,203 1-294 1,717
In spite of foreign purchases, the French merchant fleet did not increase in proportion to those of other countries. It amounted, in 1914, to 2,498,286 tons. This was reduced, by war and other losses, to 1,932,862 tons at the end of 1917, despite the addition of 301,000 tons of vessels built or purchased abroad. At the conclusion of hostilities, the French tonnage was further reduced to 1,448,242 tons, against which should be set another 400,000 tons of vessels built or purchased abroad. In round figures, the actual loss of tonnage during the war was 1,000,000. Moreover, many vessels afloat were practically useless owing to lack of repair. Shipbuilding during the war amounted to only 150,000 tons, and as the capacity of the French yards was estimated at 140,000 tons a year, the net deficit in new ships, as the result of 4^ years of war, was 630,000 tons 150,000 = 480,000. This, added to the actual loss, represents a deficit of about a million and a half tons of shipping due to war.
After the war France had five new shipbuilding concerns with from six to eight drydocks and able to build ships of from 3,000 to 8,000 tons. These companies and their capital (including both shares and debentures) were as follows: Chantiers N avals Francais 60,000,000 fr., Ateliers et Chantiers de la Seine Maritime 30,000,000 fr., Compagnie Generale de Constructions Navales 35,000,000 fr., Societe Normande de Constructions Navales 25,000,000 fr., Chantiers Generaux de Cette 45,000,000 francs.
The progress made in the restoration of the French mercantile marine after the war is shown by figures published in the Annuaire du Comite des A rmateurs de France. They give 1,886,919 as the gross tonnage on Jan. I 1919, and 2,076,963 at the end of that year. Six months later (June 30 1920) the gross tonnage had risen to 2,180,345. If we include theflotte d'etat (vessels worked by the State during the war and intended for gradual transfer to French ship-owners) we find that 19 months after the close of hostilities, the French merchant fleet was nominally stronger than it was before the war, inasmuch as theflotte d'etat amounted to 452,943 tons, in addition to 150,000 tons of former enemy ships temporarily handed over to purchasers. The flotte d'etat, however, was an acquisition of doubtful value, many of the ships having been purchased only under the pressure of war necessities. As regards quality of material, the French mercan- tile marine in 1921 was certainly below the 1914 standard, and its working was heavily handicapped by the eight-hour day.
The post-war mercantile shipbuilding programme, based on ship- owners requirements and the gradually increasing capacity of the yards, old and new, is shown in Table 20.
TABLE 20. Shipbuilding Programme 1919-23.
Year
Number of Ships
Gross Tonnage
1919 1920 1921 1922 1923
86
159 172 176 183
374.344 605,665 704,361 765,377 793.405
The completion of this programme depended on a considerable reduction in naval shipbuilding, a sufficient supply of steel and
other materials and of skilled labour and the ability of the yards to carry out their contracts.
Wireless Telegraphy. As soon as the practicability of communica- tion by wireless telegraphy was demonstrated, the French Govern- ment took steps to utilize the new process, but at first only for military and naval purposes. A military station was established at the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, under the control of the War Ministry. The navy had two stations, one at Ushant, on the north-west coast, and the other on Porquerolles I. on the coast of Provence. Up to the time of the World War, however, the transmission and reception of messages was uncertain, the instruments then in use not being adaptable with sufficient exactitude to varying wave lengths. Considerable technical progress was made during the war. To assist the Eiffel Tower in the work of maintaining communication with Allied armies operating away from the French front, the War Ministry built a new station at La Doua, near Lyons, and the Ministry of Marine erected, at Basse-Lande, near Nantes, a very powerful station which enabled it to keep in touch with French naval forces in distant seas. These three stations also sent out propaganda messages, and smaller stations along the coasts kept up communication with Allied vessels in the Atlantic, the Channel and the Mediterranean. While the war was still in progress, the U.S. military authorities began the construction, at Croix d'Hins, near Bordeaux, of a new station which was to be reserved for messages between the American army headquarters and Washing- ton. This station was not completed until after the close of hostili- ties. It was eventually able to transmit messages, under favourable conditions, to distances of about 7,000 m., and to communicate with the United States, Japan, Madagascar and the French colonies generally. This station, at the time the most powerful in the world, was handed over to the French War Department on Nov. 15 1920, and was formally presented to the French Government by Admiral Magruder, on behalf of the U.S. Government, about a month later.
The use of wireless telegraphy for civilian purposes in France may be said to date back to 1904, in which year the Post Office took over the naval stations at Ushant and Porquerolles, through which private messages to and from ships at sea were then trans- mitted. This service has been considerably developed, and in June 1921 nine stations were open in connexion with it at Boulogne- sur-Mer, Havre, Ushant, La Bouscat (Bordeaux), Saintes-Maries de la Mer, Marseille, Cros de Cagnes (Nice), Bonifacio and Fort de 1'Eau (Algiers). Other stations, such as Dunkirk, Dieppe, Cher- bourg, Lorient and "Ain el Turk (Oran) w-ere also available to the public. Short-range stations were being established in mountainous districts so as to enable communication to be maintained in case of interference with the ordinary telegraphic circuits by snowfalls or other causes. There was also wireless communication between France and the principal islands on the coast. Messages to places abroad were sent from four stations La Doua (Lyons), Croix d'Hins (Bordeaux), Basse-Lande (Nantes) and the Eiffel Tower and there were receiving stations at Villeiuif, near Paris, Poitiers, Neu- chatel, Chartres, Basse-Lande and the Eiffel Tower. Communica- tion by wireless had been established with the following countries:
Europe: Great Britain, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Ru- mania, Norway, Austria, Poland and Turkey.
Asia: China and Indo-China.
Africa: French Colonies in northern, western and equatorial Africa and Madagascar.
America: United States and West Indies.
All the stations available to the public are under the control of the Post Office, but the two great stations which were under con- struction in 1921 at Sainte Assise, near Melun, were to be worked, under Post-Office control, by the Compagnie Radio-France, an off- shoot of the Compagnie Generale de Telegraphic Sans Fil, which had stations in various parts of the world. The rates, which are not yet definitely fixed, are generally about the same as those charged by cable companies but in some cases are less.
In addition to the two very powerful and modern stations at Sainte Assise, the French authorities had begun in 1921 to construct transmitting stations which would eventually form a great inter- colonial system. Those at Saida (Algeria), Bamako (Upper Senegal), Brazzaville (Congo), Antananarivo (Madagascar) and Saigon (Indo- China) were to be completed in the summer of 1921. Others were to be established at Jibuti, Numea, Tahiti and Cayenne (Guiana).
Aerial Navigation. Before the war the length of air journeys seldom exceeded 250 m. and very little extra weight could be car- ried. It did not seem likely that aviation could serve any real com- mercial purpose, at any rate for several years to come. The technical progress made under pressure of war necessities was, however, so great that every country which had taken part in the hostilities, and, through the force of circumstances, found itself in possession of a well-developed aviation industry, set to work to make the best use of it in the service of peaceful enterprise, especially as this new industry would be indispensable to military operations.
In 1919 French civilian aviation, then at its beginning, was con- trolled merely by a department of the War Office. This department soon developed into what was called the " Organe de coordination generate de 1'aeronautique " under which the various scattered aviation services were placed. Aviation first obtained its autonomy by the creation, in Jan. 1920, of a separate Under-Secretaryship of
