NEW THREAT TO FRANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23993, 17 June 1941, Page 6

NEW THREAT TO FRANCE

The real value to France of the German generosity and concessions about which the Darlans and Lavals grow lyrical is to be seen in the new threat of catastrophic inflation, developing under the amused eyes of the Nazis. It is new only in its imminence, for in some German quarters the determination to drive French economy to ruin has not been hidden. The London Times, for instance, recently quoted a German newspaper as saying, on March 26: "Nobody could be so foolish as to cling to the franc, which one day will be of no use whatever except for papering the walls of one's apartments." The principal weapon used to drain the country's financial lifeblood is the charge imposed on France, as on all the countries overrun, to cover the cost of occupation. The annual sums levied from the five western nations were recently stated by the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs to be Total Per head Norway . * £68,000,000 £25 Denmark . . 26,000,000 8 Belgium .. 75,000,000 8 Holland . w 54,000,000 6 France . . 827,000,000 20 Total . . £1,050,000,000 The amounts are in sterling calculated at exchange rates ruling before occupation. The figures for Holland, it was stated, must be accepted with reserve. But this is not all. The countries, in addition, send to Germany a heavy surplus of commodities over those received in exchange, the difference being paid in blocked marks, never likely to be collected. 'lt is little wonder that economic collapse looms as the result.