MAKE GERMANY PAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18685, 15 April 1924, Page 6

MAKE GERMANY PAY.

THE MATTER OF SOLDIERS' PENSIONS. ——■— j Rightly or wrongly, th© impression is. general among returned soldiers that the Government has given instructions to the responsible ' officers adjudicating the ■■ settlement of pensions, that wherever possible, these amounts shall be reduced in the interests of the public revenue. The Appeal Hoard now sitting in Auckland is a tacit admission that this op.»iion is not altogether without foundation in fact, and the Returned Soldiers' Association proposes concerted action to secure, if not generous, at least just treatment to its members. This every unit of the community would wish, but since it resolves itself into a matter of ways and means, the question arises whether it would not be possible to make Germany provide the funds necessary for its carrying out. Economists are generally agreed that only by reciprocal trade relations with late enemy countries can commercial stability be restored, and in this respect Great Britain has already given a lead that New Zealand might well follow and ensure a ready market for our meat, wool, and other raw products. i ' All goods imported into the United Kingdom from Germany now carry a surtax of 5 per cent., which is paid in gold by the German Government, and allocated specifically to the payment of repetition money under terms of the Versailles Treaty. In New Zealand, however, the Government seems determined to perpetuate the fallacy that trade with enemy countries is undesirable, and ,is aiming to make the renewal of trade relations as difficult as possible by imposing an extra heavy duty on goods of German, Austrian, or Hungarian origin imported into the Dominion.

Nor is it consistent in this regard, for a strange discrimination has been shown, under which many German-made goods in common use are imported without any payment of surtax whatsoever, while others are singled out for 33 V 3 per cent. surtax levy. This discrimination stands suspect for the reason that no New Zealand industry 13 jeopardised by such a policy of exclusion, more particularly as regards motor tyres of German manufacturethe pre-war importation, which ran into large figures, arid for which, were they available to-day, there would be a considerable demand. Few will question the wisdom of reductive duties where the enemy goods would come into competition with those of local manufacture, but since New Zealand ha.'t no established rubber industry, this cannot be pleaded under instance quoted. Moreover, a further inconsistency exists in that a surtax was imposed in February last upon certain specified goods of German, Austrian, and Hungarian manufacture on the ground that it is made necessary by the depreciated currency in those countries. Every commercial firm knows that goods indented into the Dominion from enemy countries are invoiced at c.i.f. British currency, and hence the question of depreciated currency does not enter into the matter at all. Let us at least be honest and call this restrictive surtax what it really isa tax for the restraint of enemy trade. Were currency depreciation at all involved, how is it that French manufactures do- not come under the same head, for the depreciation of the franc is regular and progressive. But quite apart from the question of economics involved, in restoring the balance of trade, the fact remains that, in following the lead of Britain and imposing a 5 per cent, gold levy upon all, not ordy of some, goods of German manufacture, a fund would be established from which soldiers' pensions could be paid without having to resort to such niggardly cheeseparing tactics as now exist. Germany owes New Zealand many, millions for reparations, and it would be both opportune and statesmanlike if Germany were made to pay through the customs, in the only way, she can do so, by the establishment Of reciprocal trade relations. The attention of returned soldiers' associations is directed to this policy, for it is needed, and deeply concerns them. It is probably, without the bogey of further taxation, the only and reasonable way in which Germany can be made to make restitution for the damage she has occasioned.—Advt.