LOOT IN GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1921, Page 7

LOOT IN GERMANY.

FRANCE RECOVERS SOME

Elaborate defences by erudite Germane against the charges that the invaders stole everything they could get their hands on in French territory during the war are substantially offset by the report of the Wiesbaden commission which directed the restoration of stolen articles to French citizens under special provisions in the Treaty of Versailles.

As a result the world probably can expect .another set of blue, white, yellow, green, and other rainbow hue bound books explaining how more than 18,000,000 francs worth of paintings,'books and furniture identified by French owners as having disappeared when the Germans crossed the Rhine homeward bound happened to be picked up in error. In addition, as an astounding example of the devotion of the German troops to th.e ideals of the former Crown Prince, the Wiesbaden commission has sought out a quarter of a million tons of industrial material, 30,000 tons of agricultural machinery, besides millions of francs worth of varied securities, which the German holders learned to their dismay were not negotiable. These restorations are all confined to German territory, but nearly as much has been recovered from parts of Belgium where German troops were concentrated. The commission is said to have discovered evidence of the inner workings of a separate army service for the transportation of stolen material from Belgium across the Rhine and which was about to commence extensive operations as far east os the Prussian frontier.

The restorations from the Belgian districts include 50.000 tons of industrial materials. 2000 canal boats, and 12,000 tons of railway material. Tn some cases owners were so disheartened by the damage done to their farms as to relinquish their rights to the stolen materials. This unclaimed material has been sold by the French Government, both here an'd to German citizens, with the result that 24,000,000 frarYcs and 26,000,000 marks were added to the French Treasury, more than enough to pay the whole cost of searching for the material and its reshipment to the proper owners.