WAR REPARATION

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 72, 26 March 1921, Page 11

WAR REPARATION

CANADA'S BIG BILL. (Prom Our Own Correspondent.I i VANCOUVER, February 2ii. : Canadians generally arc not wildly enthusiastic regarding the ultimate extent of monetary recompense they will ihe able to extract from the present j Government of Germany, in respect of J reparations, but the total amount of Canada's rlaim for against Germany, with the exception of losses '■ involved" in the .sinking of ships which are i included in the British total, has been i already forwarded to the Reparations j Commission by the Canadian Govern- | ment. When the marine losses are added. , Canada's claim will amount in all to! about one billion dollars. This enormous sum, however, is not regarded as a practical figure, inasmuch as it will be but one of the items in the "moral" | damages due from Germany rather than the actual amount recoverable under , j the Peace Conference settlement. ] Ha largest constitutent is the amount paid out or to be paid out by the i Canadian Pensions Board, which as j capitalised, is assessed at slightly ov.-r I five hundred millions of dollars. For separation allowances another hundred million dollars, has been added. A third : item is the charge for the expenses of : thp Canadian portion of the Army of ; Occupation. This is a definite figure, j but not a large one as the Canadian I troops remained on the Rhine for only a j few months. The Canadian marine losses, as already [stated, are not separately mentioned ill i the Dominion Government's statement. j being included in the British total of lover seven hundred million pounds. It I would appear that a considerable difficulty may later develop over the apportionment of the sums recovered from Germany under this head. It is announced now, that this money in not to be paid over to the companies I which owned the lost ships, since they I were reimbursed by the payment of the I insurance, nor to the insurance companies since they profited from the war premiums, nut will become the property of the taxpayers and be used for the respective Governments of the Mother Country and the Dominions for public expenditure. It is stated that the difficulty whioh ipromises to arise is over the. question of vessels owned in one part of tlie ! Empire and registered in another. In 1 the case of the Canadian Pacific Comj pany's vessels, for instance, which are owned in Canada, but registered in Great Britain, the contention advanced is that i reparation should be made to the eounj try of registration rather than to tlie country of ownership, especially as so much Canadian Pacific Railway stock is held in the I'nited Kingdom. This view, which is held in London, is not at nil popular in as might be expected. As far as official Ottawa knows, no decision has yet :heen announced as to how Canada and the other parts of the Kmpire are to share in the 22 per cent of the total German payment for reparation which Great Britain is to re-eive, but it is authoritatively intimated that. Ihii will probably be a subject for discussion and decision by the conference of Premiers in London next June.