WAR DEBTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 January 1921, Page 5

WAR DEBTS.

MAKING GERMANY PAY. FRANCE DEMANDS FULFILMENT. CONFIDENCE IN NEW PREMIER. By Telegraph.—Preu Assn.—Copyright. Received Jan. 23, 5.5 p.m. Paris, Jan. 22. M. Briand (the Premier), in a speech In the Chamber amplifying his policy statement, said France would exhaust all means of conciliation before having recourse to force, but Germany must not be allowed to evade fulfilling her treaty obligations. It was to the interest of all the Allies, he said, not to leave France alone to face Germany, but if France was so left nobody could be surprised if she seized upon her guarantees. Germany was trying to get her indebtedness reduced to nothing by declaring that an undefined debt would reduce her .to bondage. He rejected such reasoning.. “Things which are impossible to-day might be possible to-morrow, and if we fixed Germany’s indebtedness to-day we would be fools,” he added. “We possess the right, under the treaty, to control Germany’s use of her revenues, and we must see that she does not squander her resources. There is ample evidence of a revival of German industry.”

M. Briand demanded a free hand as France’s representative at the forthcoming Allief Conference. The Chamber voted confidence in M. Briand’s Government by 470 votes to 18. —Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assn.

BRITAIN AND FRANCE. A BINDING FRIENDSHIP The Petit Parisien publishes an interview by its London correspondent with Mr. Lloyd George. ‘There are always people who look for trouble, but there is no trouble,” said the Prime Minister. “There is no interest in the world which, from the British or French point of view, could compensate for the weakening of the FrancoBritish fraternity. I am absolutely sure of this. “It is wrong to believe that I am diverging from the French standpoint (on reparations), so far as to dispute it. This question is as essential for us as it is for you. I shall give you my whole opinion; it is clear. Make Germany pay? Yes. All that she can? Yea. But how much? Have you a figure .... It is necessary to investigate. estimate and fix; and when the fixing is done Great Britain will be seen standing side by side with France in enforcing demands.” “Can I say,” insisted the journalist, “that France would be making a mistake if she feared that in this vital question the co-operation of Great Britain would fail her?”

“Say it,” answered Mr. Lloyd George. “I believe in proving by deeds and not by words my friendship and my admiration for the French, democracy. We have not fought and conquered side by side to disavow the past in the arrangements for peace in which I gave my assistance. “I hope, therefore, that the French will not believe that I have become an enemy because I speak as a business man, as a realist. Among friends one must speak only the truth and defend the system which appears best to correspond to the common interests. When the decision is taken, then, shoulder to shoulder!”