SATISFACTORY NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 22 February 1923, Page 5

SATISFACTORY NEWS.

'GERMANS MORE REASONABLE.

A FANTASTIC POSITION

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION-COPYRIGHT LONDON, Feb. 20. The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post states the news from the Ruhr is regarded as distinctly satisfactory. The German newspaper Vorvvnrts has hinted at l?he necessity for the Reich to open negotiations with France, while Herr Wirth, speaking in Stuttgart, stated that Germany was quite disposed tto come to an agreement.

A few days ago the Germans in the Ruhr and in the rest of Germany were protesting unanimously against the socalled unjustifiable action of France •and insisting they would not dream of negotiating at the point of the bayonet. Now they are talking about finding .grounds for an honourable agreement.

According to the Berlin correspondent of the Daily Express, the German 'Government intends to attempt international negotiations in London reigarding the Ruhr. Germany's eyes are iixed exclusively on Britain's policy.

The Paris Liberte's Dusseldorf correspondent says v fresh outbreak of /hostility coincided with the visit of the German Transport Minister (Herr Groener) to Essen, all telephone wires •communicating with Paris being cut. Herr Siering, German Minister for Commerce, also ran the French blockade •and spent a day in the Ruhr, holding a 'conference with the leaders of industry, and addressing meetings urging the people to hold out for months yet. It has transpired that fifty millions of '■the sum Collected by the French in 'Gelsenkirehen is composed of local obsolete emergency currency. A Trench officer thrashed a German blacksmith at Buer for 7 refusing to work, whereupon the blacksmith brain■ed him and escaped on horseback. The townspeople of Gelsenkirehen -again refused to ,pay the fine imposed -by the French, 'and the shops, when ■ordered to pay their share, put up their ishutters and are now closed.

Sir William Beach Thomas, writing in the Daily Express, says the British position at Cologne is fantastic enough to give the historian a headache. Nine thousand British troops hold a barrier ;across the communieaitons of the Allied -army, comprising two army corps, in -a state of war, which is daily growing hotter. ( The enemy is making' this barHer region.a sanctuary for possessions, including money which bankers fear may be seized. The Germans are therefore bgging the British to stay, explaining: "We do not like you, but we •should hate the French more.''

The freedom of the Press has been abolished in the French occupied zone, ttud even the Cologne daily may not be introduced. This much smuggled newspaper contains a solid column under a standing heading of "Arrests and Expulsions." Crowds rush to see the British detachments marching, but on •the contrary the French soldiers are avoided, especially since the order that anyone seen close to telegraph or telephone may be shot on sight. The French have now taiten over the ceded sections of the railway in the British urea. The British army regrets the loss of this fragment; of territory,' because it; contains the best partridge ■shoot, in the district.

The Dusseldorf correspondent of the Daily Express says that while railway ■ strikers sought to enrol themselves to work, the municipal workers struck as a protest against the expulsion of the •chief burgomaster, who refused to obey French military orders, and the bank clerks in Essen struck as a protest ■against the arrest of the manager of the Keichsbank. A general one-day atrike has been, followed by the arrest of the Mayor, and all shops in Essen struck as a protest against the arrest of the second burgomaster aud the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

The Germans are now refusing to sell ■stamps to the French, and are even refusing to deliver'letters with a French looking name on the envelope. As a result of the discovery of a well-filled armoury in Essen, General Degouette has issued a proclamation suppressing the whole organisation of the green police all through the Ruhr and substituting special constabulary, which is wholly civilian.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20. "White House has informed correspondents that the, United States would abstain from any action at this time which might-be construed as intervention in the Ruhr situation This was emphasised in view of yesterday's discussion of American policy in the British Parliament.

Not only have no conversations con"cerniiig Anglo-American concerted :a--'tion been in progress, but none were contemplated, as the United States considers the time improper.