CO-OPERATION OF NATIONS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20620, 9 August 1932, Page 11

CO-OPERATION OF NATIONS.

HOPE OF LAUSANNE CONFERENCE. PROFESSOR TOCKERPS ADDRESS. "The Economic Importance of Lausanne" was the subject of an address given at a luneheon meeting of the Business and Professional Women's Bound Table Club yesterday by Professor A. H. Tocker, Professor of Economics at Canterbury College. Professor Tocker said that the agreement reached at Lansanne was at leant a great success, for it promised to solve the great problem of reparatibns. War debts and reparations^represented a dead, unproductive burden. The Germans had regarded the payment as a tribute made by the defeated country to its conquerors; and they had paid it grudgingly. Germany had laid down her arms in 1918 on the conditions, set out in President Wilson's 14 points, that there were to be no indemnities and annexations. Tet at the Peace Conference she had to hand over her colonies and to commit herself to a huge burden of war debts ostensibly to pay for war damages. Neither of these impositions was in the spirit in wfyich the Conference met. Hie" Reparations Commission did largely what Pranee wanted, and assessed the .figure at ! £6,600,000,000. Germany resisted, and ' eventually the French went into the Ruhr. Following an economic stress, the mark became inflated and brought on Germany's economic collapse. The Oaves Commissionflie Dawes Commission sought, to estimate Germany's capacity to pay, because it was clear that if reparations were to be met the country had to be kept in a working condition. The Dawes report did give Europe a breathing space, and from 1925 to 1929 there was a big flow of money from America to Germany. In 1929 the flow ceased and Germany could no longer pay her debts with borrowed money. Sn© tried to expand her markets and failed; and the Young Committee came in and made af further revision of reparations. In 1931 Mr Hoover. offered a moratorium—an offer that was eagerly ae- [ cepted—'but this assistance for Germany | was too late. She was. in a desperate state. Only one-third of the population was in full employment. Her .?"•;> ~c«ndition led to the establishment- <%=' *sarOstill agreements, but these could not stay her critical state and the fear of revolution and a' complete financial breakdown ultimately led to the' Lausanne agreement. Hope of Co-operation. "The present settlement removes a lot of the cause? of ill-feeling,'? said Professor Tocker. "The iiest thing is: Are the European nations going'to pay their wair' debts, to America? . Some agreement will probably be made in the future, for. in ,the past few weeks we have had a surprising success at Lausanne. ' '' The legacies left over from, the war had been powerful in promoting national conflict.'' The agreement . at. Lausanne, he believed, migjit yrove the turning-point on the road to international 00-operation. i I i ! I