MR LLOYD GEORGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 January 1923, Page 3

MR LLOYD GEORGE.

A FURTHER ARTICLE. j RESI'LTS OF Ri ll It SEIZURE. ! irsi rOW.IAN' AND N. 7.. OAtll.K ASSOCIATION. I The billowing and all ol Mr l.lovd George articles, are copyright by j I idled Press in America and all conn-! ' ties, copyright in Australasia by the! Australian Press Copyright in Britain : by the Daily Chronicle. (Reproduction in full or part pm hi- ' bilctl). j I.ON DON, Jan. 18. j In his next anile. Mr Lloyd George ' deals with the French action in con- ! neclion with the reparations. He' writes:— | lie's I’ranee once more jumped on the prostrate lorni ol Germany with sabots that come down with a thud 1 *hat sickens the hearts oi multitudes on both sides Of the Atlantic, whose 1 friendship for France stood the losses and griefs ol four years of war? Germany. liuvinc been overthrown and disarmed, and her arms bound with Die thongs of a stem treaty, the proof's of dancing on her when she is down can at any time be performed 1 with complete impunity by ally of j Die Powers alone. No doubt there is j some jo,v lor the unsportsmanlike mind ■ iii kicking a helpless giant who once maltreated you. and who, but for the ass' tanee of powerful neighbours, 1 "Oil!;! have done so a second time. ! The additional .mil and timber that j will be wrung out of Germany will barely cover the direct cost of it- ! collection. These punitive measures iiiusi. in the end. diminish the means j of reparation, and there!',ire fall on the victor. The existing armies of oe- , conation already have cost Germane : over three hundred millions sterling. j Dow much better, if this money bad , gone to the rebuilding ot (Lie devnslat I ed area. Between the cost of the nr- I cupatinn and the contribution already made. Germany lies nlieudv paid tbree--1o Id the indomnile which Bismarck extracted in IS7l> am! this without making allowance for the surrendered German colonies. Let, Iberelore, no one‘approach this problem a , if one wen* dealing with j a recalcitrant country that was dclib- i eratelv rclttsing to acknowledge ally j of her obligations under the treaty. ! The indirect cost t aggressive! measures to the victor and t lie van ■ ! finished alike will be finishing. Il is j already accumulating. Il threatens to! depreciate thi* value of (| u . franc. | There may be a rally, but I will be j surprised if the improvement is more j than temporary. All that is obvious. ! tor the moment, to the untrained eye is. the way in which tie* mark is dragging the French and the Belgian franc along in its downward course. A polie.\ Which demoralises the German currency is also fatal to the solvency nt French finance. As long as reparation coal is dug out by bayonets, and timber cut down by the sword, if is idle to talk ol restoring the mark by putting German finance in order. No tariff, however nimble, could keep pace with the runaway mark. If the mere

Ducat ot force lias produced such : panic. v. hiit would bo Ibe effect o' actual measures ;■ |j , < sale to prediei that the French advene, will not artesl tile mark's flight. The old, chance ol securing an early in.-talineii oi rojianu imis wa** I• pjvssitiir {,Vr many to pul her finances in order, ami the only chance of a German loan wa* by restoring lie* Mobility of German etnreiiey. The French statesmen have deliberately thrown t lies,. chance* | away. The effort on their own tinret toy must be grave. Frenchmen will have to pay in an increasetl cost ol living l.*r the venture dictated by short-sighted, short-tempered states nmnship. When one thinks of the eon sequences, one is driven to ask wile llier the French politicians arc really seeking reparations, or pursuing anotli or purpose quite inoonipal ihle with tin recovery of money payments under tin t rea ty. The feather-headed scribes who hav< advocated this rash policy assume ilia! Trance will be helped, because Ger ninny will bo reduced to impotence I*nr bow long;- German disintegratioi is not unlikely, in consequence of I hi: move! I know that is tin* expectation I‘ rent !um*n still hanker alter I lie flay* when the Saxons, the Bavarians, am the \\ urteniburgers were the Allies am almost vassals. of France. against

Prussia. It was the lure which lei Napoleon to his ruin. It is an attraction which is now drawing France one.

more to sure doom. Nothing can keep the Germans apari .' They will reunite at a suitable moment, under more favourable conditions, freed from external as well as internal debt. Era nee "ill have lost her reparations. only reluming hatred ol an implacable lorn There i- no knowing what "ill happen when a brave people, numbering sixty millions, find themselves faced with niter ruin. The French proclamation, with its threat of the severesl measures in the ease of recalcitrancy, is ominous of much that may happen. No people, accustomed to natural independence. will be long able to tolerate a foreign yoke. Chancellor Culm’s action is the first manifestation of revolt. I twill grow in intensity. Germany "'ill inevitably he driven to dos porn to courses. A Communist Germany Mould infect Europe. European vitality is so lowered hv exhaustion that it is in no condition to resist the plague. Russia, with incalculable resources of men and material, is at hand,needing all that Germany can best give and spare. The Bolshevik leaders only rerpiire what Germany is so well fitted (o supply, in order to reorganise their country, and convert it into the most formidable State in Europe or Asia. When the French troops marched on Essen, they began a movement the most far-reaching, and probably the most sinister ill its eonsentiences, that has been witnessed in Europe for many centuries; and these people are people who, alter filty years of patient, laborious waiting, demon strated to the world in 19IS Germany - stupidity in abusing her victory in L-71. If a teacher so soon Aorgets his own special les-on. the pupil is not dy to remember when iury overcomes terror.