“HUNGRY WOLVES”

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11652, 17 October 1923, Page 7

“HUNGRY WOLVES”

PILLAGERS IN THE RUHR ANARCHY AND COMPLETE DESTRUCTION THREATENED. “CROWDS RAN WILD.” By Telegraph— Press Assn.— Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, October 15. The special correspondent at' “The Daily Exnress” at Dusseldorf says: ‘•The situation in the Ruhr and Rhineland is rapidly approaching a point where the British and French troops will inevitably be drawn into bitter conflict with the civil population, if the country is to be saved from anarchy and complete destruction everywhere. “Thousands of Communists and unemployed, driven desperate by sheer hunger and the want of winter clothing, have engaged in the wholesale plunder. Over 10: > shops here were ransacked, and nothing left except a few waxwork figures standing amid piles of broken glass from the shattered windows. POLICE POWERLESS. “The crowds ran wild. Hundreds of men and women went through the streets wearing all manner of 'new clothing, I saw scores of men discarding their clothing in shops into which they had smashed their way, and calmly attiring themselves in complete new outfits. Somo left wearing two or three suits, one over the other, and carrying bundles homewards. People raided the food stores like hungry wolves. The police are powerless. The Green Police have been disbanded.

“There have been similar scenes in nearly every Ruhr town. Mounted police have been rushed to Solingen, m the British area, but our troops may be called unon at any moment to charge unemployed Germans. The French are standing by ready to assist the police here, but have been ordered not to interfere unless the French or Allied interests are threatened. Tlie outlook is of the blackest. The unemployed already number a million.” EMERGENCY LAWS SOCIALISTS GIVE SUPPORT. PRINCIPLES FORGOTTEN. Published In ‘"The Time*” LONDON, October 15. The Berlin correspondent of “The Times” says: “The Socialist vote virtually carried the Emergency Powers Bill only by threat of expulsion. The Socialist leaders secured the support of 31 of their more independent followers, who were numerous enough to wreck the bill. These agreed to vote for the bill solely to preserve the party unity. “It is known that their objections ajo based on the ground that the bill is an abdication of Parliamentary rights, but they have evidently concluded that this was an occasion for sacrificing principle to party. “As a result the votes place Dr. Stresemann in a stronger position to tackle the urgent problems confronting the Government than he would have been in if he had assumed dictatorial powers without Parliamentary sanction.” CERMANY^S_CAPAGITY COMMISSION TO EXAMINE. IMPORTANT MOVE. Reuter’6 Telegram. LONDON, October 15. The latest important move in the reparations impasse is that Britain, France, and Italy have agreed that the Reparations Commission shall examine the problem of Germany’s capacity to pay on the basis of the proposals which Belgium submitted in June, with a view of reconciling the French and British standpoints. The proposals estimated that some 303) million .gold marks might be obtained annually from the exploitation of railways and tobacco, liquor, sugar, and other monopolies, deliveries in kind and a share in German industrial profits. The announcement gains increased significance in view of the fact that Brussels is giving authority to the statement that the German industrialists in the Ruhr are coming forward in increasing numbers to negotiate for resumption of work. The railwavmen are expected to resume on Wednesday. It is added that provisioning is assured throughout tlie occupied territory.