Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1947. Urgency of German Problem

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 February 1947, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1947. Urgency of German Problem

to the formula of “unconditional surrender” with which the Nazis were confronted during the war, was always the proviso that the German people need not despair of a measure of economic well-being. Only foolish sentimentalists would, however, dispute that, in an age of scarcity, those responsible for the war should receive no special favours. But even when allowance is made for . that aspect, there are problems connected with the present position of Germany that have repercussions far beyond the borders of that vanquished nation. As is emphasised in a cable message published to-day, the British zone of Germany is in a miserable state. , “Everything has gone except cold aand hunger, ’ ’ the Germans say, reports the Berlin correspondent of The Times, and in the British zone, which is more industrialised than any other part 'of Germany, and where bombs and guns caused more destruction, the winter has intensified the bitterness that was already widespread in the autumn. And yet the occupation is costing the British taxpayers, a tremendous bill.

It was never considered that any plan for the fusion of the British and American zones could be better than a second best answer to a perplexing problem. Details of the plan agreed on have shown that. What relief the adherence of Russia to the Potsdam agreement —thus fulfilling the pledges to treat Germany as an economic whole —would bring to the burden imposed on Britain and the United States cannot be precisely estimated, but on prewar figures it would undoubtedly be considerable. That part of Germany which is now the Russian zone used, before the war, to have a large surplus of food, but no information has been given by Moscow as to what are the calls upon it for Russia’s own purposes. What can be said with accuracy, however, is that fulfilment by Russia of the Potsdam Agreement would enable the problem of Germany to be clearly and accurately seen, and would substitute a chance of future economic self-sufficiency and order for the hopelessness now prevailing. Burden on Taxpayer.

As .for the Anglo-American Agreement, its ambition to achieve a “self-sustaining economy” for the joint zones in three years is no doubt praiseworthy, but is to be achieved only at tremendous cost. The grants in aid at present required are at the rate of £100,000,000 a year on an already over-burdened Britain and of over $200,000,000 for the American zone. The estimate given by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, of the cost of the fusion scheme is £250,000,000 spread over three years; and it should be realised that this is an extra cost, over and above the charges formerly incurred. Since a full half of the new charges falls on Britain (although she had hitherto paid much more than the Americans and will continue to pay more on other counts), the bill for Germany to the British taxpayer looks like being about £140,000,000 for the first year.

It has long been clear that if all the Powers will not co-operate in solving the economic problem of Germany, some must. The Anglo-American agreement is in effect a gamble on the chance that, by greatly increasing the immediate financial burden, German recovery can be assisted far and fast enough to liquidate the burden almost completely in three years. The agreement makes one thing more imperative than before, and that is that the issue of treating Germany as an economic whole must be dealt with as speedily as possible. Already there has been far too much delay. Britain and the United States have the right to ask the other occupying Powers to treat this settlement as urgent. If they can be quit of a burden ethically and' materially intolerable, their immediate sacrifices may be worth it, but they cannot be sure of being quit •of it until the form and circumstances of the whole of the former Reich are settled. The Foreign Minister’s deputies at present meeting in London, have made some progress, but the real test will come when their principals gather at the conference table in Moscow next month. The progress there will depend on whether Russia is prepared to subordinate political aims to economic questions.