GERMANY’S BEST OFFER

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 156, 20 March 1923, Page 7

GERMANY’S BEST OFFER

REPARATIONS FOR FRANCE PRESIDENT EBERT VISITS RUHR FRONTIER COST OF THE OCCUPATION

The German Government has not increased its reparations offer. It maintains that the evacuation on'the Ruhr must either precede negotiations or coincide with the first payment. The French Government adheres to its determination not to discuss any German proposals which come through an intermediary.

'Si TILBGBAPH—PBB-13 ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT.

( London, March 18. The “Daily Express’s” Berlin correspondent says : ’“There is every reason to believe ’that Germany's best reparations offer remains art. £2,500,000,000, guaranteed by a mortgage on Gmnan industry, coupled with the. pact of non-aggression. “The Government maintains that the evacuation of the Ruhr must either precede negotiations or coincide with the first pay-ment.”—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. Paris, March 18. The Press is in entire agreement with the Foreign Office declaration to regard any offer of mediation as an act of hostility. The “Matin” states that the Government will not discuss the German proposals unless they are addressed direct to the Reparations Commission or the Allied Powers. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DISCUSSION ON SPOT EBERT AND MINISTERS GO TO RUHR FRONTIER (Rec. March 19, 9.55 p.m.) Paris, March 19. The President, Herr Ebert, and several German Ministere, have gone to the Ruhr frontier to meet leading officials, industrial magnates, and trade union leaders to discuss the situation ip the Ruhr. Occasional outrages continue. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. THE COST TO FRANCE London, March 18. The “Daily Chronicle’s” Cologne correspondent, quoting French official figures, shows that the occupation of the Ruhr has already cost France a hundred million franco, besides entailing loss of deliveries in kind worth £837.500. France has only received 225,000 tons, of fuel from the Ruhr during the occupation, whereas, without occupation, France and Belgium together would have received a mill io-* tons in the same period.— Cable Assn. TIME LIMIT FOR COAL TAX PAYMENT Paris, March 18. The occupation authorities have granted the German coal owners till March 31 to pay the coal tax due on October 1, 1922. —Reuter. FRENCH SOLDIER SHOT AT • ESSEN 'MANY GERMANS ARRESTED London, 'March 18. Reuter’s Essen correspondent states that a French soldier was shot dead while working a ocntral heating plant situated in the basement of the Essen railway station. He was shot through a ventilator. A French patrol rushed in and arrested three Germans found nearby A fourth attempted to . escape. The • patrol fired, wounding him in the head. The French are actively seeking the person responsible for shooting the soldier. Citizens residing in the vicinity are held up in the streets and searched. The taxi-drivers, whose stand is opposite the railway station, have all been arrested. Essrn’s ten taxis are drawn up .n a forlorn row under a French guard. Hitherto tha French have not imposed penalties on the town. —Reuter.

SENSATIONAL ATTEMPT RHINELAND SEPARATIST LEADER SHOT ' London, March 18. Advices from Cologne report a sensational attempt to murder Herr Smeets, the editor of JJio “Rheinische Republik” and ono of the leaders.' pf the Rhineland separatist movement. A man obtained, entrance to Smeets’fliouse on the pretext of desiring an interview aiid fired a pistol, wounding Smeets dangerously in the head, and killing his brother-in-law. The murderer escaped. Smeets last year was sentenced .to three months’ imprisonment for high treason, but the sentence was quashed at the instance of the French authorities. —Reuter. (Rec. March 19, 7.20 p.m.) London, March 19. A Dusseldorf message states that Herr Smeets was wounded in the head, it is feared fatally. His assltil,ant fired ftnir shots and killed Srneets’s brother-in-law. The police have offered a million marks reward for the arrest of the murderer. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. SABOTAGE'ON RAILWAYS RUHR TRAINS COLLIDE Paris, March 18. Sabotage continues on the Ruhr railways. As a result < f damaged points at Friermersheim troop and goods trains collided. One soldier was killed and three soldiers and three railwayman were injured. The Rhineland Commission has decided that sabotage is punishable with penal servitude. —Reuter. POWER OF SECRET MILITARY ORGANISATIONS FRENCH GOVERNMENT ANXIOUS (Rec. March 19, 9.55 p.m.) Paris, March 19. It is understood that the French Government is. anxious regarding the power that secret military organisations have revealed recently in Germany, and has asked the British Government what measures Britain will associate herself f with in order to compel Germany to respect her obligations in the matter of disarmament, and to assure the functioning ot m-ter-Allied missions in Germany.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. GERMAN STEAMER - STOPPED Paris, March 18. The French stopped the German steamer Badenia from .Cologne to London at Ruhrort, and forced her to return and discharge her cargo. —Reuter ARREST OF GERMAN DEPUTY IN PARIS V ■ x (Rec. March 19, 7.20 p.m.) r Paris, March 18. Emil Holletein, a German deputy, was arrested while addressing a meeting at the French Communist head-quarters.—Aus.-N.Z. Caple Assn.