The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1826. ALLIES SOLIDARITY

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12040, 19 January 1925, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1826. ALLIES SOLIDARITY

The demonstration. of Allied solidarity afforded' by the full and most satisfactory agreement arrived at , by the con* ference on financial matters at. Paris last week,- is oi particular value at the present tihae in view of the formation by Dr Luther, the German Finance Minister, of a strongly Nationalist Government. The Chancellor, Dr Marx, after more' than one attempt at Cabinet-making, ; had failed to solve the difficult prpblem set him by the .very, indeterminate result of the German elections. Dr Luther wsb then called upon to try Kis hand ; and it was only afterten days’ labour, and’ after “roping in” no fewertban seven members of the Bight, or Monarchist par-ties-r-namely, tbe German Nationals and People’s parties—f Eat be was able to constitute his truly remarkable “Republican Government,”' Well may the “Daily Mall’s” Berlin correspondent, commenting on -the new Ministry;- declare: “The old. gang of ex-Kaiseritea who threw Europe into war is again in power.’' Dpt, lie adds, when all is said and done —and this is the essence of the whole matter—' ‘Stresemamr remains at the Foreign Office,, indicating that the L J>ayes plan will not be upset,, although Stresemann’s intrigues ousted Chancellor Marx, under whom the plan was accepted.” Nor is it to be -wondered at that “Vorwaerts” declares that the new Government, consisting of open and secret enemies of the Republic,' is a slap in the face of workers, who, indignant and'bitter, are, it states, preparing to fight, the- Government, not only in the Reichstag, but in the whole field pf industrial life. .. The indeed, seems to he that, though the Monarchists are to have seven out of the ten Ministers whom Dr Luther proposes, to appoint, or a majority of more than two to ope, they have not got the great majority of the German people; behind themexcept - in -the attitude to kick them out;-and it remains totbe seen how long under such conditions the Government can retain - office. , The situation is .a most anomalous one. The new Minister for Economics, Herr Neuhaus, for instance, resigned from the State service because- he -refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Republican; Constitution. But-.in ’Berlin- the general opinion appears ,to be that, while the Cabinet will be strongly influenced by Nationalist tendencies, especially in home affairs. Germany’s foreign - f policy will,be unchanged, since, not only does Dr Stresemann- still continue as Foreign Minister, but the Centre’ Party holds the key to the position, and can throw out the Government in the Reichstag whenever it desires to. do so. In the circumstances, it is.well indeed that such a Government should be faced from the start by the fact that the Allies are no longer disunited, but have, on the contrary, achieved a measure of solidarity unknown since the signing of the Peace Treaty. “The Dawes plan,” states the “Daily Telegraph’s” Paris correspondent, “consolidated German reparation payments into a single annual payment. The Paris agreement wipes out past wrangles over the allocation of reparation receipts. among the Allies. It supersedes all previous schemes for the division of reparations, ‘ and lays down clear rules for future allocations.” This, no doubt, is one of the main reasons why the Paris papers' are so delighted with the outcome of last week’s conference, and declare that the day of the signing of the agreement' was a red letter day. and marlfs a landmark in post-war history. They express the hope that, in view of Allied solidarity, Germany will not dare to evade herobli-

gations; and emphasise the point that America is now .personally interested in seeing the agreement carried out. The Administration officials in Washington take, it is true, the view that America’s participation in the Paris Conference does not involve the United States Government in European affairs, nor commit it to future participation in matters, of European concern. They do not agree, states a Washington cable message, - with the opinions expressed editorially by British and French journals that the Paris meeting marked the country’s entrance into European problems in a way that had been avoided in the past. They bold, too, that the claims of the situation alone made it necessary' for the "United States to participate in the conference, and that failure to be represented would have meant relinquishing America’s right to collect her just dues from Germany. The point at issue, however, is one, not of opinions but of facts; and .the governing fact of the whole position, surely, is that, just as the desire to collect her just due's constrained- America to take part in the Paris Conference, so must' it compel her to join with the rest of the Allies in seeing to.it that the agreement arrived at in Paris last week is carried 1 out, and that Germany fulfils her obligatiqns under the London Pact and the; Dawes plan. The conference just concluded, it is stated, is probably the first inter-Allied meeting which has . left no heartburnings. Italy, Rumania, and Brazil, indeed, signed the agreement with reservations ; but their reservations are only of minor importance, such as are left to be settled by arbitration. At - the plenary session, general satisfaction was expressed hy M. Clementel, Mr Winston Oh'urchill'. and Mr Kellogg (the United States representative) that the Allies are again working in complete harmony, and that a definite step towards the rC;construction of Europe had been taken. Mr Churchill also dwelt on the arrangement made to' meet the wish of the United States to. be included effectively within the scope of the Dawes scheme. M. Harriot, the French Premier, entering at the close of the proceedings, congratulated- the conference on its 'positive results; while M. Olementel, referring to the problems still ahead, placed in the forefront that of the friendly, he might say brotherly,, settlement of tfhe inter-Allied debts. The prospect of such -a settlement-is a very hopeful one, inasmuch as Mr Churchill, in the course of correspondence with M. Clementel on -the subject, has intimated that Britain’s guiding principle is still the . Balfour Note, which broadly laid down that Britain does not require more from the Allies together than, is necessary to enable her -to liquidate the debt to America. -. It is noteworthy that both London and . Paris papers unite in praising- Mr Winston Churchill’s conciliatory conduct of the British casm “Le Temps,” for 'example. ’ specially emphasises >- Mr Ohurchill’s servioes. tas indicating the new spirit in which Britain is considering the problems of peace and the' necessity for the consolidation of the Einfcente; while 4 The Times” Paris correspondent says: ‘’The conference terminated in -a spirit of quite extraordinary satisfaction. Everybody is pleased with tbis tße first Allied financial conference, which-has 1 reached full agreement. on- all points. The credit for this result is accorded to slr Winston.CEurchili, yrho succeeded in recreating, the ; spirit of solidarity and friendly agreement which has been locking since the war.’ ’