REPARATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 April 1921, Page 5

REPARATIONS.

MEW GERMAN NOTE. RE-BUILDING WRECKED FRANCE. PROPOSALS FOR NEW’ HOUSES. By Telegraph.—Press Copyright. Received April 23, 5.5 p.m. Berlin, April 22. A new German Note is being sent to the Reparations Commission, and it is hoped to despatch it in time for the preliminary conference between Mr. Lloyd George and M. Briand (Premier of France). —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. Received April 24, 5.5 p.m. London, April 23. Germany’s new Note re-affirms in fuller detail proposals for the, reconstruction of the devastated regions of France and Belgium. She offers all the necessary equipment for preparation and building material, and is prepared to erect immediately twenty-five thousand wooden houses to relieve urgent needs, and also to furrish. them, while individual citizens can place orders with German contractors, who will be paid by the German Government.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

“THE UTMOST LIMIT.” GERMANY’S NEW PROPOSALS. STATEMENT BY VON SIMONS. Received April 23, 5.5 p.m. Berlin, April 23. Herr von Simons, in a statement in the Reichstag respecting the reply of Mr. C. E, Hughes (United States Secretary of State), to the German Note, said mediation by. arbitration had been refused, but the proposal for * personal arbitration had been accepted conditionally. The German Government, therefore, intends to submit to the United States the proposals Which she is forwarding to the Allies, and which are now coming up -for final decision. Herr von Simons concluded: “In these proposals Germany is ‘going to her utmost limit, but this is necessary, as foreign countries believe Germany has voluntarily depreciated her economic and financial capacity. Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. FRANCE FIRM. “TO ACT WITHOUT WEAKNESS.” SEIZURE OF GERMANY’S ASSETS. Received April 23, 5.5 p.ifl. Paris, April 22. M. Briand, in an interview, said: “We shall seize Germanp’s assets, which, with the whole economic resources of .her Empire, shall be a guarantee of the payment of her debt. Germany, by insidious propaganda, endeavored to dissolve the friendship between the Allies in the hope of delaying payment. France is resolutely determined to compel the carrying out of the Versailles Treaty. France is determined to act without brutality or haste, but also without weakness.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ALLIED PREMIERS MEET. PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS. Received April 24, 5.5 p.m. London, April 23. The conference of Allied Premiers at Hythe has opened. The Premiers are discussing the French plans in the Ruhr and the recent German Note.—Aus.NyZ. Cable Assn. Received April 24, 11.5 p.m. London, April 24. The Hythe Conference has adjourned till Sunday.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ATTITUDE OF AMERICA. LOYALTY TO THE ALLIES. Received April 24, 5.5 p.m. London, April 23. The New York Tribune’s Washington correspondent is informed reliably that whatever steps the United States might take in helping to bring about an agreement regarding German reparations will be made only with the Allies’ approval. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

PROTEST BY LABOR. OCCUPATION OPPOSED. Received April 23, 5.5 p.m. April 23. The Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress and the executive committee of the Labor Party have issued a manifesto declaring that the French proposal for a further invasion of Germany and any occupation of the Ruhr should be opposed by every diplomatic means, even if it was proved that Germany was able and unwilling to contribute her due share of reparations; that the coercion proposed was calculated to add misery to the workers of Central Europe, delay its economic recovery, and aggravate our own industrial crisis, and that the whole reparations question calls aloud for neutral arbitration.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. WAR DAMAGE ASSESSED. AMOUNTS OWED BY GERMANY. Received' April 23, 5.5 p.m. Paris, April 22. The Reparations Committee has fixed the basis and amounts owed by Germany for damage to buildings and property. The amount due to the smaller Powers on this scote will be settled tomorrow. The commission’s work is almost completed.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. GERMANY’S GOLD RESERVE. Received April 24, 5.5 p.m. Brussels, April 23. M. Jasper announces that Germany has informed the Reparations Commission that the gold reserve will be transferred to Cologne in a few days.—Aus.. N.Z. Cable Asin.

THE APPEAL TO AMERICA. “AN ACT OF DESPERATION.” Received April 23, 5.5 p.m. Berlin, April 22. The announcement of Germany’s appeal to America caused the most dramatic public surprise since the military collapse. The War Cabinet acted without consulting party leaders. Count Bernstorff, ex-Ambassador at Washington, regards the proposal as the only practical solution. Without America, reparation in the form of cash is impossible. The Democratic Centre Party express modified approval. Conservative newspapers hotly condemn the surrender co America, and regard it as an act of desperation. Party leaders strongly criticise the Cabinet, and demand a summoning of Parliament forthwith for a special discussion.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. Received April 23, 5.5 p.m. Rome, April 22. High Vatican authorities admit that the Vatican transmitted Germany’s reparation proposals to America. It point, ed out that the Holy See acted merely as a transmitting agent. In view of the fact that Germany and America are theoretically at war, it was necessary to select a neutral.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. GERMANY UPSET. SERIOUS CRISIS IMMINENT. Received April 24, 11.5 p.m. Berlin, April 23. A serious crisis is imminent in Imperial Prussia. It is generally regarded that Herr von Simon’s position is now untenable.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. CAN GERMANY PAY? SIR SYDNEY LOW’S ,VIEWS. Sir Sidney low, discussing the Allies’ demands on Germany in the Sunday Pictorial, points out how the scheme means greater trade rivalry. “Under the' Paris agreement, Germany owes the Allies £11,300,000,000 sterling,” says Sir Sidney Low. “The amount seems—and is—enormous, and the Germans’ protest that it is monstrous to propose they can pay it. Some people in England take the same view. Eleven thousand millions! What an unheard-of sum! Clearly impossible. But we have got used to totals previously unheard-of. This German indemnity is not quite 12 times the 050 million Budget which the British taxpayer is told to expect this spring. If we can find 950 millions in a single year, it does not seem extravagant to ask Germany to hand over £11,000,000,000 spread over 42 years. We are taking a mortgage on the profits and products of one of the richest and (normally) most prosperous countries in the world. An increase of German taxation of about 32s per head of population in the first two years, rising to £4 15s in the last 31, will clear off the debt. Those who lost the world war ought not to complain too loudly at that. We — the fortunate victors —are paying out taxes at something like £23 per head! The question, however, is not so much whether Germany can pay, but whether she will.” .

One of the most striking statements made by Sir Sidney Low is that on the effect of Germany’s payment on British trade. “The annuities demanded by the Allies are calculated in gold marks. But Germany has no gold coin, and very little gold in any form, she must therefore pay, directly or indirectly, in goods and commodities —coal, ores, potash, and other natural products and manufactured articles. On these last she will in the main rely. She cannot comply with the Allied demands without exporting on a very large scale. The result must be a rapid extension of her manufactures and her foreign trade, which extension the Allies are bound to permit, and even to encourage, since otherwise they will not receive their annuities, and will not make as much as they would like out of the 12 per cent, th.ty they are entitled to levy on German exports. There are people who would like to punish Germany by keeping down her trade and retarding her industrial restoration. But they, cannot have it both ways. If Germany is to be visited for her sins by being compelled to pay our big bills for damages, she cannot also be condemned to industrial and mercantile stagnation. If we want her money we must let her earn it in the only way she can, which is by selling her exports. The payment of a heavy indemnity is not wholly detrimental to the debtor nation. The milliards which France paid after the war of 1870 stimulated 'her industries so much that she recovered with a rapidity that surprised and mortified her conquerors. The far heavier feums for Iwhich Germany is liable may ha.ve x the same effect. Germany is bound to recover in any case; but she may recover all the faster because of the obligat ons we place on her. Her manufacturers and shippers may console themselves under increased taxation by reflecting on their improved, or renewed, facilities for "dumping their wares on alien shores.

'“Germany will have to submit to higher taxation; but she will have her industries stimulated and her foreign trade revived,” concludes Sir Sidney Low.