The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1928. A HAPPY ISSUE

Hokitika Guardian, 5 September 1928, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1928. A HAPPY ISSUE

Four years ago the Allies, after prolonged deliberations, decided to impose upon Germany the payment of reparations in accordance with what is 'known as the Dawes Plan. Though the amount to be ultimately forthcoming was only a small fraction of the huge damages originally claimed by the Allies, the Germans protested vehemently, as a contemporary, recalls, that the proposed scheme would throw an undue strain on their resources, and would in the long run produce the most disastrous effects upon their country's trade and finance. Even many British and Americans doubted the wisdom of levying so heavy a tax on Germany's productive capacity, and predicted that after the impetus supplied by the financial aid granted in the first instance to Germany was exhausted the reaction would he severe and ruinous. Yet now that the fifth year of repayment under the Dawes Plan has begun, Germany is able proudly to inform the world that her economic position is probably stronger than it was in the years immediately preceding the Great War. In view of all the cicumstances of the ease this statement seems almost too astounding to he true. Yet the evidence in support of it is extremely strong and well established. During the past five or six years production in Germany in all important industries has been constantly increasing, the proportion of employed workers in the skilled trades has 'been continually growing, savings have accumulated rapidly, money has been poured freely into countless forms of profitable investment, and the volume and value of the country’s exports have lieon expanding at a really 1 prodigious rate. We may accept, therefore, Dr Cromer Long’s assurance that the Dawes Plan, far from ruining Germany, has, bv stimulating production and encouraging saving, actually restored economic stability and established industry more firmly. A great many reasons may he advanced to account for this extraordinary phenomenon. The fact that German territory was not devastated by the war counts for a great deal, and the deflation of the mark by practic'd! wiping out Germany’s domestic debts helped in the long run to solve the problems of her internal finance. But the recuperative power of a nati"> must depend in the long run on the industry, the energy and the productive capacity of its people; and here the Germans may fairly claim high praise for their great achievements since the war. To-dnv they are dis. playing the same vigour and initiative that before the war made them such formidable rivals to British and Americans alike. The reconstruction of their mercantile marine and the reorganisation of their internal communications by rail, water and air arc striking illustrations of their indomitable energy, and they have already reaped the fruits of their labours by regaining to a very large extent that eminence in the industrial and commercial world which their rulers forfeited in the “mad adventure’’ of the Great War. The Germans have good reason to be satisfied witli their nine years’ record, especially when they reflect that if the Allies are now prepared to consider the proposed evacuation of the Rhineland, Germany is in a position to offer something extremely substantial by way of “quid pro quo” for that much-desir-ed concession,

Quite exceptional importance attaches to the report that the Nationalist Government lias arranged with a great combine of British firms a series of immensely valuable contracts for reconstruction and developmental work in China. It seems that the Nationalists having once consolidated their position after the. retirement of the Manchurian armies, approached the British Government with the object of securing assistance for these purposes. For obvious political reasons, no such proposal could bo entertained. But through, the good offices of Professor John Smith, one of the great Sinologues of the day, who enjoys to a unique degree the confidence and respect of the Chinese, negotiations were carried on with a large number of leading British industrial firms, with the result that a British combine, amply financed and directed by some of our greatest commercial organisers, is now prepared to take in hand a huge programme of work that should prove immensely profitable not only to the Chinese, but to tile British capitalist, and the British wage-earner. It should, of course be noted, says an exchange, that the formal adoption o;f this policy of reic-om- , struction by the Nationalists suggests a degree of stability and security in the government of China to which that unfortunate country has long been a stranger. It now seems possible that, ’ from the chaos of civil war, there lia-s at last arisen a centralised authority ’ strong enough to enforce law and order / and to cstalilish peace. If this 'be so, then indeed a new era of progress and prosperity may have dawned for China. , But even if this sudden improvement in the prospects of the country’s internal affairs docs not prove to lie permanent ,it is evident that Britain now enjoys an opportunity for her own Industrial and commercial enrichment, such as has not tome her way for generations past. In the palmy days of Britain’s past commercial ascendancy she made vast profits by undertaking, in comparatively poor and undeveloped I countries, great enterprises which she alone had tho capital, the industrial ability, and the organising capacity to carry to a successful issue. Now, in spite of the intensity of international 1 competition, another great opportunity of this sort has licen vouchsafed to her - captains of industry and finance.