Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, JULY 18, 1924 THE LONDON CONFERENCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 18 July 1924, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, JULY 18, 1924 THE LONDON CONFERENCE

SEEING that the Conference which is being held at London is convened primarily for the purpose of considering the. Dawes Report, which it has been proposed shall be considered as a complete instrument which shall ho accepted or rejected in its entirety, it may ho of interest to our readers to have a few particulars bearing on the character of the Report. To re-print the text of the Report is out of the question, since it would occupy more space than wc have at our disposal, and. to quote extracts is difficult where so much would have to bo quoted if all the matters dealt with in the Report are to be given the attention commensurate with their importance. Probably, therefore, the best and simplest way in which to deal with the matter is to give a short digest of the

Report. After deliberating ior three months, the experts presented their Report to the Reparation Commission, on April 9th last. They express the opinion that Germany is able to pay reparations without onerous obligations, and they recommend an increasing scale of payments, beginning at 1000 million gold marks the first year, increasing to a minimum normal annual payment within four years of 2500 million gold marks, but they advise that that annual payment should he subject to variation in proportion to the subsequent prosperity of Germany. It is to be noticed that the Report docs not fix the total amount of reparations that shall bo paid, or the number of years over which the payments shall extend—decision in regard to those points rests with the Reparation Commission of the Allies.

The Report recommends that a foreign loan of 800 million gold marks shall be raised for Germany without delay, in order to enable her to adjust her financial position and revive her economic life, and for the purpose of stabilising German currency, a bank of issue is to be established. This is the £40,000,000 loan spoken of in London. It is propos ed that payments in reparation shall be derived from taxes, railways, and industrial undertakings, and that these shall be mortgaged in order to secure the payments The Report stipulates that France and Belgium shall Relinquish economic control of German territory now occupied by them, and this means of course that the Ruhr shall renew its industrial activity under controlled German supervision. M. Harriot has expressed himself as willing to concede this, under certain conditions; and though the Report does not require specifically the withdrawal of French troops from the Ruhr, it is clear that the Germans must be given absolutely full liberty of action in an economic sense within the limits of their principal industrial area. M. Hcrnot, it may be mentioned, has expressed his willingness to withdraw troops from the Ruhr gradually and in proportion to Germany’s willingness to fulfil her obligtions by making regular annual payments in reparation.

The costs of the armies of occupation and credits for deliveries of chemicals, coal, coke et cetera, to France and the Allies arc to he a credit against the total annual cash payments. A special issue of 11,000 million gold marks of German railroad bonds and an issue of 5000 million gold marks of German industrial debentures—which are expected to provide more than one-third of the annual payments—are to be handed to the-Re-paration Commission, which shall float them on the world’s markets. It provided—very necessarily—that defaults in regard to these bonds shall be covered by the guarantee of the German Government. . Such briefly is the frame-work of the Report, but, there are one or two points which must, be considered in conjunction with it, before it can be called an e - fective instrument. In the first- place France’s concern for her security against a repetition of the invasion of 1914 is as ~reat, and even greater, than her concern as to the payment, of reparations to her by Germany. At the present

time, by occupying the Ruhr economically and in a military sense, she lias effected such a strangle-hold on Germany that she possesses therein a sufficient guarantee against invasion. It is not tn be expected that- she will abandon tiic advantage she has, unless .site first receives from her Allies such ail equivalent guarantee as will make her feel equally safe. In the next place it must he recognised that the businesslike recommendations of the Report, effective ns Hiey promise to he if adopted, place Germany in a position which, while it would enable her to work out her salvation, would also appear to place her unreservedly in tluf hands of the Allies. She will therefore desire to know what limit the Allies propose to put to her economic servitude, and it would appear to he incumbent on them to fix definitely the total amount of the indemnity which they propos.e to exact by means of the Dawe* proposal*. That amount has been reduced, and it will probably lie reduced again. The London Conference will probably he inclined to treat Germany more leniently than have previous gatherings which have been held to devise means of making Germany meet her obligations. But that: leniency will most assuredly be coupled with a firm determination to enforce on a defaulting Germany severe penalties which shall be imposed ’Ey the Allies ns a body, and not merely by one of them acting for herself. It is to he hoped that the Conference will not merely strengthen the good feeling among the Allies and result in Germany’s meeting her obligations; it is to he hoped that the Conference will he the beginning of a new era of tranquility and prosperity in Europe. Such certainty is the end to which the British Premier is working, and it is to be expected that he will receive the ardent support of the Powers representatives assembled in conference with him.