Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1928. GERMAN REPARATIONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 75, 9 January 1928, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1928. GERMAN REPARATIONS.

The question of the reparations payments to be made by Germany is of sucli importance to so many nations that any scheme that gives the least promise of improving* the position attracts wide attention. The scheme drafted by American bankers with the object of coping with the whole problem of reparations and war debts is of particular moment to Britain. At present Britain has to pay every year to the United States about, £35,000,000 annually on the war debt. This sum she hopes to receive partly from Germany by way of reparations, and partly from Allied countries from the repayment of loans. She will, however, in no case receive more than is necessary to pay the United States, The American scheme s is that all the countries concerned should raise a huge loan —the amount is put at £I2OO millions—and that the United States should receive £BSO millions of this to cover the British and other debts, and that Germany should pay £B4 millions a year, being interest at 51 per cent, and a sinking fund of if per cent., until the whole sum borrowed is repaid. The advantage of this arrangement would be that there would he no more trouble about German reparations as the sum payable would be fixed at £B4 millions annually, while all war debts would disappear. Under the new scheme Germany would be the only debtor; Britain would pay nothing to the United States and would receive no pay' ments from Germany or any other Power. If, as sems likely provided the plan is accepted, the people of the United States take up most of the loan, it would be a considerable advantage, as the whole force of American opinion would he directed to compelling Germany to maintain her interest payments. It would be a real gain if the United States shared this responsibility with France and Britain. On the whole there seems reason to believe that some plan of the sort would he of advantage to Britain and to the world at large. The Agent-Gen-eral for Reparations recently reiterated his belief that the real solution of Germany’s war debt problem would come only after a fixed amount had been settled for Germany to pay without foreign supervision of her finances. At the same, time he yarned Germany that she must keep her budgetary expenditure, within the strictest hounds in order to be able to meet her obligations abroad, which will soon become seriously heavy. The test of tlie new scheme is whether it will obviate the dangers that would undoubtedly arise if Germany does not voluntarily rigidly apply herself to to the task of providing for the payments to which she is committed.