FRANCE PAYS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 225, 14 October 1940, Page 8

FRANCE PAYS

UPKEEP OF NAZI ARMY % HUGE SUM EXTORTED Gei-many is compelling unoccupied France to pay for the maintenance ol' the German army in France a daily sum which,-translated into annual payments, is more than three times the maximum annuity imposed on Germany for the payment of reparations under the Versailles Treaty. A decree which the Vichy Government lias promulgated reveals that unoccupied France must pay for the upkeep of the German army of occupation 20,000, 000 rcichmarks daily. Under the reparations clause of the Versailles Treaty Germany was required to pay 2,000,000,000 reichmarks yearly, which was scaled down under the Dawes plan to 1 - 000,000 reichmarks yearly. Actually, Germany paid only 17,000,000,000, in the same period, borrowed 27,000, 000,000 > from Britain, the .United States and other countries. The sum unoccupied France is required to pay amounts to nearly five time,s the sum received for French exports in" 1938. Germany's decision to transfer French prisoners of war from Germany to camps in occupied France is taken as- an indication that the feeding of prisoners is becoming a problem. The excuse officially given for the transfer—that the German climate might be too rough for men from a warmer climate—is considered to be a "bit thin."