The Dominion MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1921. A DANGER POINT PASSED

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 108, 31 January 1921, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1921. A DANGER POINT PASSED

The very difficult situation which confronted the Allied Council in determining the payments wnicl Germany must be called on to make by way of reparation appears to have been satisfactorily surmounted There was a real danger ot the Allies failing to come to a common agreement on the question, ana it is especially pleasing to find that that danger, which would nave played into the hands of Germany, has been avoided. It was practically hopeless from the outset to devise any practical reparation scheme which would have wholly satisfied France, for the simple reason that full justice can never be done to the claims of lne difficulty has been to satisfy French statesmen and the people oi France- that Britain and the other allies have been endeavouring to devise plans under which Germany will be compelled to pay to the lull limit of her powers. The French say Germany must pay and pay in full measure for the material injury she has caused to France, and because the French people have suffered so terribly thev ar© inclined to allow the justice of their demand to blind them to the practical realities of the situation. They say Germany must pay to the uttermost farthing, but they have failed to demonstrate that Germany can pay to the uttermost farthing. M.RLloyd ‘George earned wide disfavour in French circles by advocating that Germany should bo called on to pay to the uttermost farthing of her ability to pay. this qualification being regarded as implying a. concession to Germany’s professed inability to meet the full demands made. To-day's cable messages suggest that a deadlock between the two sets of opinion on the Allied Council was narrowly averted, and that a compromise has been reached which, while not fully meeting the demands of France, yet clears the way to an agreement a,cccntablc to all the Allies The agreement, as finally arrived at is mainly based on the recommendations of the financial experts who were entrusted with the task of determining what Germany could safely be called on to pay and the best method of payment. . The scheme is one which, while it properly demands heavy sacrifices from the'German people, spreads the payments over a period of 42 years The earlier payments under the scheme are considerably less than those which will have to be made as the years pass on and Germany gradually recovers from the set-bhek of her war losses and the dislocation of trade and industry. The payments to be made annually can be seen at a glance from the following table : —

During the 42 years, therefore, Germany will be. called on to pay the huge sum of £11,250,000,000; in addition to which she will have to pay a tax of 12i* per cent, on her exports. It is not quite clear at the

moment what this export tax means or how long it is proposed to retain it. The estimate of Britain’s total share in the reparation payments is nearly £2,500,000,000, which represents a little more than onethird of her total war debt (£7,281,784,613). Of that total, however, £1,808,000,000 is made, up of loans to the British dominions (£186,000,000) and to our Allies (£1,622,000,000), the greater part of which may be expected in time to be repaid. The share which New Zealand may expect to receive of the payments to be made by Germany may amount at the best to a few millions, and if the total is to be spread over 42 years it will not be likely to have any appreciable effect on our finances. It has never bifCn anticipated, however, that this Dominion would b/i materially affected financially by the decision reached by the Allied Council in the matter of reparation. Though our financial loss has been heavy enough it sinks into utter insignificance, in comparison with the devastation and ruin spread over North and Eastern France. Our great ally lias scores of ruined cities to replace, her most flourishing and productive provinces have bjen lost to her for years, and will take years to restore to their old producing capacity ; and while this process of restoration is proceeding her debt goes on accumulating. France has been by far the greatest material loser by the war. and .it is because her statesmen realise this.and realise too the tremendous unhill struggle that lies ahead of her before she can hope to repair in any substantial measure those terrible losses that it has been so difficult to persuade, our ally of the impossibility of exacting “the uttermost farthing” of her losses from Germany. Happily the strained relationship between France and Britain which had arisen out of the difficulties created by the task of arriving at an agreement as to what Germany should and could pay has passed. Mr. Lloyd George and M. Briand between them have solved a problem which was more likely to split the unity of the Allies than any of the momentous issues which arose during the progress of the great war itself. It is a matter for unquali-

fled satisfaction that this dangerpoint has been passed, leaving the representatives of France and Britain on such cordial terms as to-day's messages disclose.

Annually. Totals. First 2 years 100.000,000 20O.000.C00 Next 3 years 150,000,000 450.000.000 Next 3 years 200,COO.000 600.000,COO 3 years 250.000.000 750.000.000 Last 31 years S»,WO,COO 9,300,000,000 Grand total 42yrs. 11,250,000.000'