SENSATIONAL TRIAL IN BERLIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14042, 27 April 1920, Page 1

SENSATIONAL TRIAL IN BERLIN.

(By George Reuwiek.) Herr. Erzberger. the Minister of. Finance, is again in the limelight.— and it is a dazzling blaze. His great libel suit—his desperate struggle.; for. his political , life— against his~.bit.ter Ipolitical foe, Dr Helfferich, piears its conclusion in sensation after sensation —and at last has forced him to resign from, the Cabinet —"temporarily," his fnends"=d\ Dr Helffencli standing to) the old I Pan-German regime, puisued Hen Eiz- | berger toi months with a pitiless now - papei and pa.mph.lett vendetta,, admittedly designed to bung about this libel suit with the obiect of electing the poweiful Minister of Finance JTiom the Government and fiom public hie Tn hitting at one ol the nic-t mfluential membeis of the Government Di Helfferich hopes to damage the new legime in the countrv's ejes and to show how pme (In companion 1 licit the old Junkei leadeis ol Geinwnv Chaige is heaped on chaige till theonlooker's mind reels in contemplation of it all " The whole business puts the Manama scandal in the shade Di Hclf leuch .iccuses his opponent of count less piofiteenug and other "dciK' while he was occupying Government positions The- chaiges extended liom" trafficking m munitions to dabbling in a concern which midt «-oap out of lotten eggs, tiom endeavoring to obtain French coal mines from Hen Thyssen (the German coal and iron king) to smuggling his (Etzbergti s") loiiunc thiough to safetv in Switzerland We have just had a most- sensational dav's heating It wis shown th it 0 I Helftench had ins opponent followed ' b\ spie-, and mioimeis that \, hil Hen Eizbeigei wis in Sw'tzerland list veai with his invalid lamih a hundnfl thousand francs weio offe-icd to a Sw islaw\ei foi mtonuation is to wlieie Hen Er/beigei'-, moue\ was t But the great sensation of rile c.i'-e has been the theft of docuniieiits horn the Finance Mimstn ' and these ha\p been used to support a chaige that Hon Erzbeiger cheated the Revenue authontics Thpse documents show that m 1915 Heir Erzberger declared his iticome to b« ROCO marks, while during the present pioteedings he liaadmifcted that he ivai then leceivmg -10,000-jnarks as directoi of the Th\sI sen concern In the following veai* when he was still eniovmg that honoi rinum, he declaied Ins income as 20.000 marks In 1919, while m it cVpt of a Minifctenal salarv of 30 000' maiks and a taxable house allowance of }O,OOO marks together with other earnings amoimtinfiv to lo 000 maiks he declared his income, is 16,700 mail.■» These revelations have naturalh made a tremendous sensation, and now Herr Erzberget as already imported has temporarily withdrawn from his position as Finance Mmistei till the matter is investigated "tempo-, rary resignation" has brought Jorih a howl of delight from the Pan-Geiman Piess. . "" ■