RECONSTRUCTION COST

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 83, 5 October 1938, Page 13

RECONSTRUCTION COST

£70,000,000 ESTIMATE

TREMENDOUS LOSSES

RESOURCES AND INCOME

LONDON, October 4,

The diplomatic correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" understands that the £10,000,000 British loan to Czechoslovakia was required to fortify her national currency against immediate collapse. He adds that Prague is inquiring elsewhere with a view to raising further sums. It is estimated that not less than £70,000,000 will be j needed to cover the cost of reconstruction in view of the tremendous material losses. Experts estimate that an even larger sum will be needed to place the new Czechoslovakia on a sound basis after the cession of all her minority territories. It is not contemplated in Prague that the British loan will be sufficient even for the needs of the refugees who are pouring in. Those from Austria and Germany are estimated to number 70,000. The total number of refugees is estimated to be 800,000. It is clear that provision must be made for at least half a million, the bulk of whom left their homes with only their clothes. FURTHER AH> IMPERATIVE. The Australian Associated Press says that the chief economic adviser of the Czecb Legation stated th»t the British I loan, while most acceptable, would not do more than maintain the Czech foreign exchange balance lor the next few weeks. He stated that further assistance was imperative if insolvency were to be avoided. | The financial editor of the "News Chronicle" says that £10,000,000 will not go far. The new frontier, which extends for hundreds of miles, must be provided with Custom houses, frontier posts, and defences. Even £30,000,000 would not compensate for the economic injuries suffered as a result of the partition. Czechoslovakia has been deprived of her most developed mineral resources, except minor coal and lignite deposits, all her best industries, including glass and porcelain, and most' of her important textiles. Even the industries retained are mostly cut off from raw materials. The transport fcystem will ; require large-scale reorganisation. New j ports will be needed on the Danube and the Elbe. Czechoslovakia will probably lose one-quarter of her population and one-fifth of her area, but the proportion of the national income she will lose will be higher, it is competently estimated, by at least half. THE FRENCH OUTLOOK. '< The announcement of the loan to Czechoslovakia from Britain is welcomed in Paris as an important contribution to maintaining Czech independence. France is now considering the problem of French capital sunk in loans to Czechoslovakia, recognising that Prague may find difficulty in meeting the interest now that the rich industrial areas near the frontier have been taken over by Germany.