PAYMENTS TO CANADIANS FROM LUSITANIA DISASTER
MONEY FROM GERMANY. For losses of life or property suffered by non-contestants during the war several thousand Canadians are about to collect something like £2,000.000 from the German Treasury. Such is the effect of the report of the Canadian Reparations Board just presented to Parliament. The money has already been received by Canada from Germany, and the Canadian Government, by accepting the report of the Separations Board acknowledges its liability, though the actual distribution to claimants is not expected to take place until next vear. • .'*''
The sinking of the Lusitania was responsible for a large number of personal claims some of them running as high as £3OOO. 4 But the largest losses were those sustained by business firms whose property in Germany or other enemy countries was confiscated or des'troyed on the outbreak of war. Civilians interned in Germany received awards. And some claims for losses bv air raid were allowed.
" Several applications were awarded reparations for the maltreatment twhile prisoners in Germany, while one man who was interned in Africa got, his claim in full, a matter of nearly £IOOO. While one woman in a claim for £204 for the loss of 'a"'trunk left with her landlady ,in Dresden, 'Charles Vanderndorpe claimed only '£s4o for a castle in Belgium, and had his claim admitted in full. Unsuccessful Claims.
Even more interesting than the claims that were; allowed' are the claims that were not' allowed. : Their number is legion."' Claims by sufferers in the Halifax explosion, when a shipload of munitions blew up, were not allowed because the explosion'could not be attributable to direct action of the enemy. Nursing sisters and wounded soldiers lost on the sihking-~of the Llandovery Castle, a hospital ship illegally sunk, were on military duty, and therefore no claim could bo allowed except for loss of personal effects/ Many pitiful claims were put in by widows of men who" lost their lives 01 ships "sunk without a trace." Because there was no proof the ship was sunk by German warfare, no award was made. '
Mr Hugh H. Neson averred that Air. Si dwell, of Hamilton, who lost his life on the Lusitania, owed him £BO. He said Mr Sidwell had plates, copyrights, and music stock with him worth £IOOO. The claim was not allowed. The commissioner, however, awarded £I6OO to Mr Sidwcll *s widow, and £2OO each to the seven youngest children.
There was also the claim of James Coristine and Company, whose buyer Duncan Stewart, was lost on, the Lusitania. They asked the Commission for his passage money, £29, his pocket-ex-penses £2O, and a month's salary £25. This claim was rejected. A man Avhoso wife deserted him and sold his property had his claim disallowed. Man With Six Soldier Sons.
The Commission sympathised with a resident of Nova Scotia, whose lumber business was ruined after his six sons went overseas, but no claim was allowed because it could not be shown the Germans were directly responsible. Two of the stfns were killed in action and two are still in hospital. Claims of insurance companies, both for life and property, were, generally speaking, disallowed; so were claims for loss of life in all cases of combatants, even if death resulted from illegal warfare. Private Meneur, for example, was shot af'tuj- being taken prisoner. His father's claim was disallowed, but a pension is being paid.
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Shannon News, 23 October 1928, Page 1
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564PAYMENTS TO CANADIANS FROM LUSITANIA DISASTER Shannon News, 23 October 1928, Page 1
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