M. POINCARE’S REFUSAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 November 1923, Page 5

M. POINCARE’S REFUSAL

TO ACCEPT EXPERT ENQUIRY. “FRANCE WILL NOT CHANGE.” (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.)

PARIS, November 1. M. Poincare, in a speech at Nevers again charged Germany with organising her own bankruptcy, though her resources were immense. They were now witnessing the last spasms of the resistance in the Ruhr. After referring to the fact that the officials, railwaymen and others, were returning to duty, and there were increasing deliveries of coal, he declared: France is beginning to receive a reward for her efforts. It, therefore, is not moment for a change of her line of action, and France would not change. The Premier reiterated France’s intentions as to reservations regarding the proposed committee of experts, and concluded: What injustice and what peril would be involved, if Germany were freed from a portion of her debt, and then, in a few years, she reappeared restored enriched, to humiliate France! We must not let the treaty be touched! AMERICAN DISAPPOINTMENT. WASHINGTON, November 1. The State Department, exasperated by M. Poincare’s restrictions on the reparations inquiry, is ready to withdraw unless France accepts unlimited investigation by experts. It is increasingly evident that the French Foreign Office’s interpretation of M. Poincare’s Nevers remarks

shocked and surprised officials at i Washington. Officials here had ber, lieved that Mr. Poincare had accepted I the Expert Committee plan with only I the reservation of the French rights : under the Versailles Treaty and an 1 insistence that thp Committee should ’ function under the Reparations Com- ! mission. To what extent the limitations on the scope of the inquiry will influence America’s participation is not indicated, but the officials regard the plan as not providing for ' a full examination of Germany’s capacity to pay, and likely to prove an abortive effort. The United States does not share the view attributed to , M. Poincare that Germany’s debts are fixed and unchangeable. NEW YORK, Nov. 1. M. Poincare’s speech at Nevers today, appeared to have broken Mr. Hughes’s equanimity. Mr. Hughes, since the week-end, has silently accepted M. Poincare’s various utterances limiting the proposed experts’ committee’s effectiveness. The State Department has also taken pains on several occasions, to correct statements that the French attitude was unsatisfactory, but M. Poincare’s latest utterance is considered incompatible with the conditions indicated in the Hughes-Curzon correspondence. Mr. Hughes intimates that the United States will refuse to become involved in any abortive investigation and that he fears M. Poincare’s conditions will tend to that result. The officials still hope that France, however, will not block the proposed investigation. It is felt that France can never expect to secure any reparations if the present status continues, while Germany could be expected to begin payments after the experts acted.

actea. MR. LLOYD GEORGE’S APPEAL NEW YORK, November 1. Speaking at a civic luncheon at Philadelphia, Mr. Lloyd George made an impassioned appeal to Americans. “Because,” he said, “you are formed in the same image of God as are the Europeans, we are brethren, and I ask you not to leave Europe to burn herself out?’ x There is a big force of police detailed to watch Mr. Lloyd George’s movements during his visit to New York. This is the result of threatening letters which he has received. TOO MANY NOUGHTS. BERLIN, November 1. A new currency regulation instructs the banks to cancel the last six figures in all accounts. Thus there is a new unit created, equivalent to one million marks. The reason adduced for this change is that the columns in the bank books are not large enough to accommodate the string of noughts. VAGARIES OF MARK. LONDON, November 2. The “Daily Chronicle’s” Berlin correspondent says: The remark made a record-breaking dive into the abyss and nearly doubled in worthlessness during the day, the plunge being accompanied by feverish, buying on the Stock Exchange and wild speculation in scrip of the gold loan. This scrip bears a face value of a dollar, and these German dollars are now selling at about three hundred thousand million, thus the new currency is becoimng a fresh counter for gambling. Food and goods ip shops are now priced at so many gold marks, and the equivalent number of paper marks, but as the price

in paper is based on the exchange value, the price in gold marks is sometimes changed three times a day.