GERMAN STATESMAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 7

GERMAN STATESMAN.

Death of Dr. Mueller, Former

Prime Minister.

SIGNED PEACE TREATY.

(Received 11.30 a.m.)

BERLIN, March 22.

The death is reported of Dr. H. Mueller, ex-Prime Minister and first signatory of the Versailles Treaty. He died at the age of 54.

Dr. Hermann MuTler was born at Mannheim, where his father owned a small brewery. His education was cut short owing to family circumstances, and he had to go into an office. At the early age of 17 he bad joined- the Socialist party, and in 1898 he abandoned his business career to edit the '"Gorlitzer Volkszeitung." He attracted the attention of Bebel, leader of the party, who, in 1906, had him brought to Berlin, where he was engaged at the Socialist headquarters till 1918. It was not till 1916 that he entered the Reichstag at a by-election. After the revolution he was a member of the Executive Council, and later of the Central Council of the German Republic. Tn January, 1919, he was elected to the National Assembly, and was a delegate to the International Socialist Conference at Berne.

When the Socialist, Herr Bauer, formed a Cabinet in 1919, Muller became Foreign Minister. In that capacity he signed the Treaty of Versailles for Germany, along with Dr. Bell, on June 28, 1919. In March, 1920, came the Kapp "Putsch." The rising was suppressed, but the Cabinet's prestige was shattered by its failure to take precautions against an obvious danger. A new Government was therefore formed on March 27, by Muller, but was defeated in the following June.

In 1926 Muller was the first German to be elected vice-president of the International Labour Conference at Geneva. He did not hold office again until June, 1928, when, after the Socialist success at the polls, he formed his second Government, with considerable difficulty. His proposals for the abolition of a number of small States evoked opposition from Bavaria, Wurttemburg and Baden. Meanwhile the breakdown of the parliamentary system was becoming more pronounced. The Cabinet could neither command a majority, in the Reichstag nor could it dissolve because two parties were haggling over the number of Ministers to which they were entitled in the coalition. Ho was defeated in March, 1930, by Dr. Bruniug, who formed the present Cabinet.