LLOYD GEORGE ON THE SITUATION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 27 August 1923, Page 5

LLOYD GEORGE ON THE SITUATION.

391 CA.Bi.~-

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\r t , j n LONI>ON, Aug. 25. Mr. Lloyd George, in his twenty-fifth •article, discusses the effects of the Jttuiir occupation. -«LfMrn^iO^. d Geor Se asks: "What will "i. j win, or Lord Curzon do next? -Much depends for Europe on that next -•step, and something for them also hangs S n *fw aCtl°? or inacti°n. A new factor that may have a determining in-ftoeiit-e on events is the succession of Iterr Stresemann to the Chancellorship Jtfe is generally supposed to be a man -Jf energy, courage and resource, and if "*nat is true his appointment may be th*l? Vent °f the fil? fc mafi«itude. We shall soon know what he is made of -fiermany has suffered more from weak or misguided leadership in re'ent yearsif w an 7 eS&t t COUntry in th« ™>rld. £L£xl her into the war > it Mun*S£M ci * r?^ h the war ' h Plundered the armistice, it blundered during td* W%n?gOt^ns ',and ft Sunder? ",£«» ■ 3ffairs J badl-v after P^ce, but P-? dict- What Germany is SFp w wise and stron 2 lead€*V "?err Stresemann has an onnor •aff°rded him such as h^ PPnot •W given any statesman since the i :~**7B of Stem and his coadiutors for the ,;«!«> rise, of Herr Stresemann may be a an emergency to heroic actiopfandTen" durance then there is nothing but 't^Z S ?-/ r-° nt of Ge™any. F?r the moment it is more important to keep a :fc r£! ng eye 2? Herr Stresemann -•pSehe^^ heS6 endleSS Notes and

"It is not often that I and myself in :6greemen£with M. Poincare bKhen ?t?i 3?^ to the occupation of "-Si, Rw r * immedi^y •«Srd with Him. We are more denendent on our w«rw« trade, export *and rLexoort -shipping and incidental business than any country ln the world, Nearly half -«ur industrial and commercial activities Ite frfrm? h Ontside trade in" aII . "Before the French ever entered the Kuiir on overseae trade was down to 75 ¥? FT* °'l r lts Pre-™r level. Our population has incre^^d by 9 000 Ann - &Ti]f 3 > rr, taxatio" inSsSSS -*J I \ and t he nftti«nal debt ten- ««?+ • bS,- <>l7iJ >?si.ne6 f. isdown 25 per cent This foil is m direct consequence :: of the war. Our customers throughout Jflnrone are impoverished. Until Europe can buy Australia, Canada. India, .and Chin* rannot pay. As Mr. Baldwin pointed out in a speech in the House or Uommons Germany before the war foousrnt Australian wool, Canadian grain Indian jute and tea. and the proceeds - Z \ &S l not went to" P ay for rWts bought by" these countries in British markets.

The purchasing capacity of Europe - must therefore he .replenished, and that tnust at hest take years of patient in- .-. dustT-y. The mischief of the"Rnhr does not.Jie m the creation of bad trade, fttJt m retarding.- the progress of recovery. Before the French entered the -Jr unr *rade_ w a <t imnrovina: all round, wit something Jias happened to arrest progress, and this is where the Ruhr • comes in. .. **Dnring these last- disturbing months Germany has become aiybreciably poorer. These things are hidden from Franoe. She is a more self-contained ■ country than Britain, and perhaps, also, more self-centred. Events after the Napoleonic wars drained her of ber best manhood and exhausted; her fine nervous virility, but she suffered from no internal economic depression. Her great and victorious rival across the "Ohannel lumbered painfully through 15 years' misery, poverty and" distress. We " tad fought them for 20 years with in- " reterate pertinacity, beaten them on . . the ground occupied by. their capital, and to-day we suffer because we helped to save their capital from foreign occupation and their country from being tumbled to the dust by a foreign foe^ "Neither in French speeches, Notes, ' ttor articles is any appreciation shown -■■of that cardinal fact in the situation. -; All that is clear at the moment is t*^ of the, French attitude. If.- Poincare has not receded one milli-

"metre from his original position. "Lord Balfour, on behalf of the British Government, offered to forego ■•-.•all- claims if Britain was secured against the American debt. That means a surTender aggregating £3.000,000,000 in return for £1,000,000.000. Lord Cur- - son's Note proposes the surrender of all for £710,000,000, so the Ruhr occu- ~ pation has already brought down the British claim by £290,000,000. M. Poincare may not be able to extract re--parations from Germany, but in seven months -he has succeeded .in forcing out of Britain. He will "-certainly ask for more and probably, will get it. Mr. Bonar Law was right ftrhen he said that under certain conditions Britain would be the only country "to pay a war indemnity, and those contritions have arisen under his suc<»ssors."* ,"■■■■■