THE HOHENZOLLERNS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 145, 21 June 1926, Page 7

THE HOHENZOLLERNS.

A PLEBISCITE TO-DAY

THEIR VAST POSSESSIONS

OR WAR VICTIMS?

("By Cable—Press .Association.—Copyright.)

(Received 11 a.m.l

LOXDOX, June 20.

The financial fate of the Hohenzollerns and nineteen other German dynasties will be decided to-day.

Property valued at £200,000.000 is at stake. Twenty million ayes will be needed if Wilhelm and others are to be deprived of their patrimony. It is expected the general result of the voting will be known at midnight, but a formal proclamation of the exact figures will not be possible for weeks, as voters in 65.000 centres must be checked.

_The plebiscite will cost the Reichstag £75.000. Propaganda on both sides is becoming more vigorous.

A demonstration in Berlin presented a terrible sight. Thcmsands of war victims were wheeled in handcarts or limped on crutches accompanied by piant megaphones, chanting "Xot a Penny for the Princes." The authorities are taking extraordinary measures to prevent disturbances. CRISIS FOR GOVERNMENT. Whether the Government will be able to successfully survive the events of the next few days is at present the topic of anxious and excited conjecture. With the approach of the referendum which is to be taken to-morrow on the subject of the confiscation of the property of former rulers, public ferment is being ventilated at monster demonstrations.

Prominence is being given at these gatherings to banners which suggest that the protagonists interpret the referendum as marking a struggle between the Monarchy and the Republic. Herr Stresem.;nn, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in an interview ridiculed such a contention, but he pointed out that whereas the plebiscite was a move by the Socialists and the Communists in favour of the dispossession of the former rulers without compensation, the Government on the other hand had prepared a compromise bill. The latter made a distinct difference between State and private property, 'caving the former rulers a certain amount of private property. Government circles are confident that the requisite 19.500,000 votes will not be obtained in favour of confiscation. Should their calculations be falsified, however, the consequences will be most disastrous, as President Hindenburg and the Government will resign. Furthermore the Federal States, notably Bavaria, will refuse to carry out confiscation and the result will- be chaos.—(A. and N.Z.)