July 14.
Since last we joined with our French allies in celebrating their national day, they have given still further proof of ability to overcome difficulty and misfortune, and to-day we, may offer them our sincerest congratulations upon their progress along the high-road to prosperity. Considering the events since the summer of 1914, the achievements of France up to the present time stand forth as a monument to her national courage and an example to the world at large. The problem of her devastated districts has been tackled with a splendid thoroughness, and a large proportion of the inhabitants have now been restored to their former homes. To those who know the devastation which laid hold of that countryside for four years, who saw villages and towns crumble to ruins under the barrage which never seemed to cease on some part of the front or other, who had to tramp over ground torn and distorted, this recovery comes as a revelation of what devotion can accomplish. Nature herself early took in hand the repairing of the wounds which made a once fair landscape appear a hideous nightmare. In the spring her lavish hand planted flowers in all the shell holes; from Flanders to the south, and: the play of the elements further, tended to obliterate the military works which the feverish efforts at grips, had created. More, however, Was requisite, and that has been supplied by, the industry of the people guided by the courage of their leaders.
On an occasion such as the present, to show how well founded is our appreciation of the efforts put forward by France, it is well to quote a few figures showing the extent to which the restoration of, her war-stricker fields has progressed. When war broke out the population occupying the region so soon to undergo the process of devastation was 4,700,000. Many escaped the flowing tide of German invasion, others were carried away, and when the armistice was signed these once prosperous districts contained no more than 1,900,000 people. To many their lot in these days was sheer misery, for too often was there nothing but the rudest shelter constructed from the wreckage of war as their home. And when the refugeer returned to their once comfortable habitations, little but desolation met them, so thoroughly had the guns done their work. To-day we are confronted with the wonderful achievement that the inhabitants who have returned and been re-settled in these districts number only 600,000 below the figure of 1914. To obtain this result an area of about 9,500,000 acres has had to bq cleared of the debris of war—concrete, barbed wire and projectiles. At one time it was feared that for years to come the district would be uninhabitable, that the number of unexploded shells buried just below the surface would render cultivation impossible, and that the best means to deal with the country would be by afforestation. This would have meant the loss to France of a large tract of fertile agricultural country, and thanks to the energy displayed such has been averted.
Of the 1,204,882 houses in the district, 293,733 were totally destroyed and an even greater number partially damaged. The fact that so many refugees are back shows that much progress has also been made in repairing this part of the damage. And in this respect the utmost sati faction will be felt by the Bri sh section of the community in the fact that so many of the towns and cities of the United Kingdom have taken ruined villages great many "'its"' in this}of the armies, when not actually. under their wing and are doing
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.