The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." GISBORNE, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1947. FOUNDATIONS FOR A STABLE EUROPE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22447, 30 September 1947, Page 2

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." GISBORNE, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1947. FOUNDATIONS FOR A STABLE EUROPE

ALTHOUGH insisting that Germany’s recovery was a necessary part of European recovery, the 'American Assistant c _ y of State for Economic Affairs, Mr. Willard Thorp, say ß greatest emphasis that the United States does no promote the recovery of Germany at the expense of Europe. He also made it clear that the State Depar keeping fully in mind the problem of security and Hite that Germany did not re-create her industrial potentia making purposes. . ~ . In the main lie was replying to Russian allegations United States was planning to restore Germany s strengtn a ax French fears over the level-of-industry programme. iiavi g created a barrier between the Eastern Zone and tne res Germany, Russia cannot with any sound reason complain t a is being cut off from events on the other side. Even if tiere wei the faintest truth in her charges, it must be apparent that she would have a better chance of righting wrongs if she chose to co-opera, e in a comprehensive economic fusion. France has been me m lend her influence in Russia’s favour in the hope of' winning suppoi • for the French plans for the Saar and in this position s ie 1 acted as what has been described as “an honest broker Russia and the other Powers. The announcement o ie ? Plan, however, has brought a new influence into Euiopean po. . Prance and Britain have a permanent interest in assuring implementation of the plan, and the incorporation _ot es ein Germany is necessary in any economic re-alignment in es ern For Britain the revival of German capacity to produce and to export is a pressing necessity, if only to relieve her of some ox ie drain on her food and foreign exchange resources. In detau t o Russian co-operation, greater efforts must now be made to secme the integration of Western Germany through a close co-ordination of French policies with those of Britain and the United bta es. Much depends upon the Germans themselves. _ British opinion is that the time is approaching when the responsibility ot making ends meet, subject to a defined extent of Allied assistance, must be placed firmly on German shoulders. Importance of the Ruhr.

The touchstone of success will be the expansion of German exports and the extent to which reconstruction can be speeded in the Ruhr. Before the war the Ruhr provided 65 per cent ot the country’s exports. Not only the coal and steel but also tie engineering products of the region areneeded to re-equip both German industry and that of neighbouring countries. Without a pronounced increase of supplies of food, steel, timber, and equipment, for the mining area there can be little hope of attaining leally satisfactory production figures. Any aceeptable plan of reconstruction must, of course, ensure that the products of industry are primarily utilised not ioi Germany’s benefit but for the good of all Northern Europe, of which the Ruhr is the industrial heart. France is inclined still to express alarm over the possibility that a larger volume of production of steel and machinery in the Ruhr might furnish the basis of a new and strong West German State, bent on a fresh career of aggression. There is no reason, however, why an agreed scheme for German reconstruction should not include ample safeguards against a resurgence of militarism. In the political and economic sphere the foundations .for a stable Europe can be laid only by international collaboration on the widest attainable scale. _ The present position is that the Potsdam decisions to treat Germany as an economic whole have not been observed. Russia is actively seizing not only industrial equipment but also actual production by way of reparations. She is doing this in spite of the protests that such a practice means that Great Britain and the United States are being forced into the necessity of paying Germany’s reparations themselves. The burden of the. occupation on these terms cannot be borne. What Great Britain and the United States and, it is to be hoped, France must try to produce is a plan to enable the Germans to assist in their own and in world recovery without giving them an opportunity to plot for world domination. _ One of the first steps must be to organise a surplus of production over Germany’s minimum requirements, a procedure which will probably call for a revision of the Potsdam provisions for the restriction of industry. There is, therefore, every reason why the three Powers should endeavour to come to an understanding in spite of the doubt that persists whether such a development would make it obligatory for Russia to enter into partnership or would perpetuate the barrier that at present exists.