WHAT AUSTRIA NEEDS
BRITISH COAL AND. CAPITAL PREFERRED
FEARS OF THE WINTER
' Some of the difficulties and need* ci Austria aro stated in the following communicntion received by the London "Observer" from an Austrian correspondent: /"Our two most urgent needs at this N moment iiro food and coal. In order to pay for these articles Austria must work, but work she cannot without having coal and raw materials.
"Foreign capital would be of the greatest help at tnis monwnt, especially Hritish capital, which we s-hould prefer to ally other. To sonic extent British capital, is already beginning to eater' the country. Th«j Austrians had wished it to come earlier', and they still wish it to come-in greater quantity. It is part of Austria's penalty to have to sell outj aud if sell out she must, she prelVra the buyer -to 'be an Englishman, ror she does not mspect him ofr complicated Continental aspirations, wherein Austria would be uSfid as a pawn. •
"Thbro are many •in Austria sighing for a now, a broader, and a higher spirit in business life, and it is certain that English capital would bring wittt- it English business methods, energy, and farsightedness. "It is quite impossible to give an adequate idi-n of how short! Austria "is (.f coal, what, this shortage means to her already, and what immediate dangers ai'o threatening her. 'Any piiilaiithiopic eadeavour or busings help is insufficient if it does not provide coal as wfcll. "Austria produces little more than 10 per cent, of the coal she needs, and her neighbours lire not sending h|:r anything like the quantities they are really obliged to send her Dy tne Treaty or by ipwaal agreements, liven if'Uiey sent their lull quota tne, country would still bj snort ot coal. At present she ijots aoout i'io,Wlo tons of coat less eac-i niouta than sho needs, not for working normally again, but merely .to-go on wiui out aitogtimer unbearable restrictions— restrictions- that not only bumper work, out meetly threaten Die.
"The horrortj of last winter in Austria are still 111 everybody's mind. The coining winter will bo worse unless coui is provided. Already some ot tno Englisa arms or groups vorkjng in Austria provide tno necessary coai tor tliemseives. This system, pernaps, unusual, but perfectly worka-lne,. and not without profit, niiglit bo extended. This is another, and uoc- the 'least cogent, reason why Aus trians count on linglish capitalists more limn any others to taK6 an active interest in their country.
"The victors iiavo send to Vienna a Commission for Reparations, which, is. to inalto sure that A'us.na is put into a position to pay tho reparations imposed upon her, and has thu power to apply and interpret tho finuncial conditions of the l'eaco Treaty that uhc may be able to live. The impression is general and justified that this commission has been created and sent to Vienna- in a friendly and not'in a hostile spirit, that it is intended to help, not to oppress, lot the tact remains that, furnisnod with a start on tho most approved and liberal, prewar style, it is costing 312 millwn of krohen-a year—equivalent to dbl>l,uuu,uw sterling at pre-war Kates of exchange-every.'-penny of which exhausted, starving Austria' has to pay. At_ the same time all tho reports from Vienna are unanimous that 'the work of the imglidi members of tho Reparations and other international Commissions, w very much nuprcciated.. and men like Sir William Goode, Sir Ernest Harvey, nwVSir Francis Dent would be sorely missed there. "Two mutually opposing tendencies have evidently been lesponsiblo for/he conception of tho Reparations Coirfmission. The one was to create a sort 01 creditors' committee, and the other to provide Austria with advice and assistance. The first tendency a-.one can explain 'the; fact tliat all the victorious nations sent .their representatives. Just imagine the new States that liaveariscn out of'the ruins of the old' Dual Monarchy advising Austria how to set her house in order, and Austria having to pay for it. . '\ . '"The two mutually opposing and contradictory tendencies obstruct each other and set at nought the best intentions on the part of individual members. The idea that Austria should pay has ceased to be taken seriously. Everything that, is done or said is done or said 011 the silent assumption that Austria will not he able to pay.' And yet the pretence, the legal'fiction that she will have to nay is still kept up, : and it is sapping what is left of her energies and vitality."
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Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 33, 3 November 1920, Page 3
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751WHAT AUSTRIA NEEDS Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 33, 3 November 1920, Page 3
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