IF GERMANY WON.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1915, Page 3

IF GERMANY WON.

DR. SADLER'S REMINDER. . Professor Sadler, speaking at Batley recently, pave a clear indication of what would probably happen in this country "if Germany won," and showed how necessary it is that recruiting should be strongly stimulated: — The Germans, if they succeeded, would levy upon the United Kingdom a stupendous fine, not less than four thousand million pounds. To secure payment they would occupy this country with an armed force, take control of the Imperial Treasury and its financial system, including the banks, and proceed to realise their claim. Their first step would be to get as much of the" indomnity as possible by levy on our possessions. They would seize the Fleet and our merchant shipping, and transfer the. whole to the German flag. All coal mines and other valuable deposits of minerals would be confiscated by the German State. A register would be made at once of all valuable possessions in the United Kingdom, whe.theji.in public or private ownership, and all would be forfeit to the enemy. The British Museum, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and other galleries would be stripped of their treasures. Every private bank balance would be commandeered. All securities, whether in public or private hands, would be taken over without any compensation. The railways and all other means of communication would be forfeit to the German powe", which would also control the Customs, and postal service. What, after a valuation -" this plunder, remained unpaid of the indemnity of four thousand million pounds, would have to be raised by taxation, imposed under German direction, and enforced by German arms.

In order that the taxable resources of the United Kingdom should be kept alive, emigration would be forcibly stopped, and the population would be compelled to work under German direction and with a brutality of control which events in Belgium helped them to imagine. All representative government, whether in Parliament, in the county councils or in the municipalities, would be suspended. The United Kingdom, so long as any part of the debt was unpaid, would be under German martial law, supported by the scientific administration of German officials. The German plan would be to strip the United Kingdom of its accumulated wealth, both public and private, and then to set its inhabitants to forced labor until the indemnity, including interest on arrears, had been wiped out. The population would be forbidden any weapons of defence. Every man and woman would be watched by German police.