RUHR CONDITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18380, 21 April 1923, Page 9

RUHR CONDITIONS.

RESULTS OF OCCUPATION. ~: ENORMOUS expenditure. : fcOSS IN OUTPUT OF COAL. SEIZURES and expulsions. .'.'GERMANS WILL HOLD OUT." By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 5.5 p.m.) ..' i, and N.Z. LONDON. April 19. . The Dusseldorf correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, summing up the results of the hundred days' occupation of the ' Ruhr, says France admits she has spent £15,000,000. France and Belgium have obtained 300,000 tons of coal, whereas they would have received 5,250,000 ■ tons if the Ruhr had not been invaded. Coal trains now go from Ruhr to France every 6' hours, instead of every 28£ minutes. The money seized in the Rhineland and the Ruhr totals 16,000 million marks, or 060,000. Forty thousand Germans have been expelled. Thirty mine-heads have ••been occupied, 110 railway stations par- -' jtally occupied, and 60 wholly. The cor- ' respondent travelled in the Ruhr exten- :. sively. Food was plentiful, and he could see no evidence of it lessening. The Ger- ; mans, he says, will hold out. PEACE BY UNDERSTANDING. DEFINITE OFFER FAVOURED. TWO PARTIES RECONCILED. A. and N.Z. LONDON. April 19. i The Berlin correspondent of the Daily Telegraph states that there are good reasons for supposing that the majority .'/of dominating personalities in the Reichstag favour Germany offering a definite f-stun as reparation, but asking for an international commission of financiers, ■which Mr. C. E. Hughes, American Secretary for State, suggested, to decide the terns of • payment, guarantees, . and whether the offer should be increased. All that is now hoped for is peace oy understanding. It is significant that the chief advocates of this plan are supporters of Heir Hugo Stinnes and Socialists, \ who • hitherto have been" most difficult reconcile on the reparations question. Both parties strenuoasly trying to win the r Cabinet to the above view.

INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL. BRITISH LABOUR ADVOCACY. WAR AS THE ALTERNATIVE. '•' A. *nd N.Z. LONDON. April 19. Messrs. W. M. Adamson, T. Shaw, and ■N. E. Buxton, Labour members of the House of Commons, after a visit to the • Ruhr, reported to the party that the situation cannot be dealt -with by any machinery under the Versailles Treaty. An' appeal should immediately bo made to the, French and German Governments ■to % submit- the reparations proposals to ■'ra-: international .tribunal. • Britain should -■take the initiative by a; frank and defi- ■"' nite ' statement ." of policy, and should • spare no effort to maintain constant. touch with both sides in order to take advantage of (every fresh development tending to narrow the gap between the conflicting claims. No settlement can be expected if the French, Belgians, and Germans are left to themselves. Sooner or later they will fight it out with terrible consequences to Europe and the world. '■;■ The British Army of ' Occupation, in difficult and politically humiliating circumstances, maintained British prestige at a high level, but German business men are amazad at \ Britain's .• passive acceptance of a state of things which is destroying British trade. Consequently the impression is growing that Britain is now a "negligible factor. The report describes the general situation in the Ruhr .as . though Greater London were occupied by a hostile army of 100,000 men. The French force can shoot citizens, destroy, and terrorise, but cannot control the district, and they risk being inextricably involved in common ruin. b£ '..' , The party adopted the report.

DUSSELDOKF UNEMPLOYED LARGER DOLES WANTED. READY TO WORK FOR FRENCH. < '-. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. '(Reed. 6.15 p.m.) LONDON, April 19. Unemployed at Dusseldorf have written to the Government at Berlin stating - that they number 30,000, and if the dole is no increased they will offer to work for the Frdnch. The latter, however, say there is no work to give them. At a meeting at Bochum two Russian agents who were present urged revolt.