HOW GERMANY ROBBED LONDON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 189, 19 January 1915, Page 4

HOW GERMANY ROBBED LONDON.

In tin- current issue of the National l\ev:ew. as also in Mr, Gibson Bowies' now' Candid Quarterly, attention is drawn to the carefully pre-arranged plan by which 1 he Germans inflicted the maximum of loss upon London and its finances before the war began. For months previously says (lie author of Hie article en "Tiie City in AVar." 1 lie branches of (ierman bank" and German agents in London bad been sidliny out larye blocks nf Austrian and 'o-niuui securities, and aUv ol favorite Herman investments!. operations had to be covered bv a certain amount of re-purchasing to avert susjiu-ioi;: bej, alwa\> ib.' -ales : : .ue(cod-j ed the re-purchases. \n the end. v j till' err-i- i-:nne, the Stock K\c!l!liec ' , worth ol' -lock.' purchased from (!enn[M-,- and rri | !>\ el-," thai, is m.t yet, (Kill! u.,- 1V..1, la-! settline' day. Unt v. lie?) the crash came the brokers who had hold for tile <icrroaiiN demanded instant payment, white the brokers who bad 1« fflßlil antl "earned over" for their idients, could «.-i remitlaiK'cs from abroad, and so werleft 'leljih -s. At tile -lime lime 'he money msrkil v;;ts H-<hl«hl with 'li i 1 „ bill- ~f which ber-mne. or; M.c i oiifliri-:'!; of w!i\ prwfticrtllv wor!' . !>; I', r ',y I,r : ; . !-'! fi';-! I ; .- "!' Way i' t!;e levels p.

large German banks and merchant ' Arms. But the great aaeniational currency is the bill drawn on London, and the holders of (ieriuan bills of exchange had converted them on a very lursre scale into London hills, so that when the war broke out not less than £50,00. 000 was due on acceptances from ('lev iv.u debC is to the London banks. The (an- ' did i'uarterly estimates that nut Move than-j per cent, of the value of these bills will ever be recovered, and this means that even before a shot was fired the British banks had simply been cheat I'd into handing over at least C40 : ll00,000 --a substantial war indemnity—to enemy. Of course this does not represent the total loss that (he city sustained through the machinations of thGermans. The .Stock Exchange owed the Germans at least efio.OOO.flnO, Imt the banks held about CoOjalikOOO worth id valueless Gorman bills of exchange, and had advanced at least C 50.000,000 jo stockbrokers mi the sccuriiv of foreign shares and scrip that no longer had any market ((notation. Tt would be diificult io compute Accurately the total thus sustained by the city. But it is! clear that the London bankers and financiers were the victims of deliberately planned ami skillfully executed series of operations entered upon by iUe Hermans with the clear intention of repudiating their liabilities at an early date. And as these operations extended over several months, they throw- nil interesting sidelight on the question, whether Germany actually premoditat si this war, and whether the leaders of German industry and finance, received official warning that war was imminent some time before the rest of the world realised that it was near at hand.