REPARATIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 December 1922, Page 3

REPARATIONS.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. COMMONS DEBATE LONDON, Dec. 14 On the'motion for the third reading 0 f the Consolidated Fund Bill, Sir J- . Simon initiated a debate by + f , the German reparations. He Jt was no use making recrimination with regard to the gross m.scakidations made four vears ago. the leal qucs tion was what was the Government s ntfctmde on the suject. . » Mr Bonar Law said that Trench 11 - anee was based on the., expectation of receiving large sums that -ere promised bv Germany,'but at the. enti the moratorium they fduud that my were in a worse position , for . anything than at the beginning. Ihe French view was that Germany by be. currency inflation, had deliberately ; would not have, placed themsehes > vond the reach of then; Government. ' Discussing the relation between the inter-Allied "debts and the reparations, the Premier said that, from the pf »t of i-tioo, it «,»Wnot 1«; that Britain can alone pay as the re suit of the war, without receiving anythine It would reduce the standard of livin'? in this country for a generaot ~ hnrdeli of which tion to place on it a nr it no one had any conception. We could not do it. AVe had reached a sound budgeting position, at the of heavy taxation. AVe could not attoicl to be as generous as some foreign countries supposed. Unless there was a distinct improvement in tiade, should he worse oil than any of < ’ Allies in regard to reparations. Geimany was free from the terrible internal debt which burdened us, but all the information which he had received was that Germany was very near a complete collapse. There cm l f no an improvement there until the ni.uk was stabilized. Yet, m the opinio - f every economist, every; effort to sta il Le the mark would bring about that collapSe - LONDON, Dec. 14. Speaking in the debate on the reparnA t i o „s Mr Ramsay MacDonald said. "\Ve must not attempt to conciliate France bv a surrender of our own n tercsts. The first, essential was > j pursue an economic industrial policy -• so as to enable Germany to pay reparations both to Britain and nf • They must lower their expectations. Mr Tilovd George said he agreed with Mr Bonar Law s speech. Ho did not think he could assist towards a settlement by any suggestion of his own. He might casdy do harm He would, therefore, retrain, lie uas most anxious that .the should have a good issue W e cm Ul not hone for finality, but he at least hoped Mr Bonar Law would register a fresh step towards a settlement. LLOYD GEORGE ATTACKED. LONDON. Her II The reparations debate in the I Jus ended in a wrangle between Mr Llovd George and the l a> bou " t< ;"' t M Air Morel (Labour,, alleged that Mr Llovd George had encouraged the French to believe that Germany "ou < be made to pay everything that the war had cost I 1 rancG. i i , Lloyd George was then mentioned by Afr Lansburv, he quoting lnm as declaring “make Germany pay . Afr Morel reiterated his allegation This Mr Llovd George repudiated warmly, amid a storm of cheers and counter cheers. House There was a din all over the H™se. Mr Morel remarked : One of th 'main causes that took Mr Loyd George - liack to power was the heliel Lady Astor: “riiat he won the war.”' (Laughter). Air Jack Jones: “A good job be didn’t win you 1” ,i„. House I adv Astor brought down the. House bv Siriing: “He’d rather have me wrangling, the Bill rP nd the third time, and the House rose.

FRANCE AND RHINE. LONDON December 14. Mr Lloyd George breaks tl.e sequence to his series of articles in order to deal with AI. Eoincnire’s criticisms of his first nr trie. He says that the breakdown of the London Conference and especially the reasons for the breakdown proves that the warning given in his first articles was necessary and timely -M. Poincare, he says, has demanded the occupation of the only coalfield left to Germany as a guarantee of Germany carrying out impossible terms.“My statement,” he writes, that a strong party existed in France which demanded the Rhine as a natural harrier has provoked a storm of denial, repudiation, and indignation. Some were amazed at the impudence of the calumny. I shall hear the invective with fortitude, provided that it elicits denials that will mean rendering future internal mischief difficult. The basis on which I made the assertion was thoroughly well known to those engaged in the peace conference. The Rhine had been the background of the manoeuvres for weeks and months. We knew'the real struggle would come over the Rhine. I will reca-USS few proofs that there was a party which considered the Rhine th.e only natural frontier, with a man as spokesman who is in many ways the strongest man in France, Marshal Fecli. In 1919 his word on the security and destiny of France was heard with a deference which no other man in France could secure. A few sentences of his public utterances are significant.”

LLOYD GEORGE AND FOCH. ( Copy right.) 'Received this dav at 9.110 a. n.) LONDON, Dec >4. Mr Lldyd George continued. -"Tn an intended with the press in 1919, Marshal Focli 'said:—“Having iviirhul the Rhine we must stay there. Democracies like ours, which never agree must have strong military frontiers. The Germans have not dunged their characteristics in four years. Fifty years hence they will be what they are to-dny. Focli producing a map, showed France’s new frontiers under the treaty. Look at that, said, lie, there’s no natural obstacle along that frontier but here, tapping the Rhine with a pencil. We must be ready to fate the enemy. We must have our armies on the Rhine. Foeh later expounded the doctrine in greater details, in an official document, to M. Clemeneeau. In this he said to stop enterprises towards the west by Germany, who is everlastingly warlike and covetous of the good °things belonging to other people, nature only made one barrier, the Rhine. This barrier must bo forcpfl op Germany and henceforward the

Rhine will be. the western frontier of the Gorman peoples. Air Lloyd George says, many of us recall Foeli’s dramatic irruption in the Peace Conference in May 1919, still brandishing the samci theme. Koch’s political influence was so great that lie alone was responsible for AI. Clemenceau’s defeat at the Presidential elections, because the latter had gone back under Allied pressure from the French policy on the Rhine.