The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 19, 1920. MAKING GERMANY PAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 252, 19 July 1920, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 19, 1920. MAKING GERMANY PAY

Some details of an agreement reached by the Allies at tho Spa Conference in regard to the, division of reparation payments from Germany arc given in on'o of today's cablegrams. _ The total amount to be paid is not stated, though it has presumably been settled! and the only light cast upon the method of payment is in the statement that the _ "Allies undertake to facilitate the issue of German loans destined for Germany's internal requirements and the prompt discharge of her debt to the Allies." This is somewjiat obscure, but may mean that tho Allies have approved tho idea of an loan which has been tentatively discussed of lato in France and elsewhere. Tho Paris correspondent of the London Times recently made the following reference to the proposal:—

Prance, like other countries, is desirous of discounting as quickly as possible this dobt (duo from Germany) which in to be wiped off in 33 yearly payments; and with that, end in view the French, experts propose the flotation of an international loan with Allied, neutral, and ex-enemy participation. The proceeds of such a loan will be used for reparation and for.restoring the industrial and ecunoinio conditions of Germany. The datails of this great scheme, with which many an expert has toyed already, havo still to be submitted for the approval of the political leaders. ...

It is to be assumed in any, case that tho Allies have arranged that Germany shall make the greatest reparation payment of. which she is rear sonably capable over a term of years. To be content with anything less would be to allow her to inflict a orowning injustice on the Allied nations, particularly those nations whose territory she invaded and systematically devastated. It can never be forgotten in considering the question of. reparation that the magnitude of tne claim against Germany is enormously increased as a result of her deliberate policy, of endeavouring to wreck the industrial future of the countries into which her armies penetrated. Tho lengths to which this policy was carried in France, the greatest sufferer of all, are a matter of familiar knowledge. Unfortunately tho utmost reparation that can he exacted from Germany will fall far short of balancing even the mate'rial havoc .she wrought, but bare justice demands that she should be compelled to pay what she can. A, statement by the French Premier (M. M'illerand) subsequent to the Hythe Conference, which was held in May, indicates that _ Germany will be required to pay in reparation a sum of 120,000 million gold marks (6000 millions sterling), plus interest. At Hythe the representatives of tho French Government accepted a-British proposal that reparation should bo demanded in a series of paymonts, each of a stated amount. Ono of the points on which M. Milleiund carried his way was that Germany's payment should bo independent of the restitution of coal, livestock, etc., which she is called upon to make by the Treaty. It seems likely that these are broadly the reparation terms the Allies have imposed on Germany at the Spa. Conference. ' ■ Tho sum of £6000 millions represents only a small part of the direct and immediate cost of tho 'war to

the Allied Powers. Groat Britain alone spent in the aggregate more than £l 0",000 millions, and the proportion of the German reparation payments allotted to tho British Empire is 22 per cent.—£l32o millions exclusive of interest. Thus, if Germany is compelled to comply punctually with the Allied demands, the whole Empire will eventually . receive in compensation something like one-eighth of the amount which the Mother Country alone Bpent ir prosecuting (ho war. Interest on the. delayed payments will in_ a measure compensate for their being spread over a period of thirty years. When he returned from attending the Peace Conference, tho Prime Minister, Mk. Massey, expressed an opinion that the reparation payment to New Zealand would^ not be less than £10,000,000, and might be £12,000,000,' spread over a term of thirty years. Some tirao ago Mb. W. M. Hughes, in the Commonwealth Parliament, estimated that the Australian indemnity would amouut at most to £50,000,000, and added that he thought Australia ought to get by 1921 between £3,000,000 and £8,000,000, after whiolj-the payments would be spread over thirty years. Me. Huqhes is perhaps something of an optimist in these matters, but on the basis of his figures and those given earlier by Mn. Massey, thi,s Dominion* may expect to receive anything from £600,000 to £1,600,000 by next year, and smaller payments subsequently at intervals. It is clear that even if the most favourable anticipations are realised the sum recovered by the Dominion will cover only a fraction of tho liability incurred for war pensions alone, irrespective of the charges on a war debt of approximately £100,000,000. The position, of course, may be" altered to some extent by the German loan flotations «whieh the Allies have undertaken to facilitate, but it seems unlikely that any substantial early payment of reparation will be greatly hastened by this device.