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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20931, 22 January 1930, Page 6

EX-GERMAN PROPERTY. The cable messages from The Hague which we have published during the past few days have brought into prominence the rather tangled question of the disposition of property which formerly belonged to private German citizens and was sequestrated by Great Britain and the dominions during the war. The Prime Minister has made a statement which clarifies the position Avith respect to German property in Western Samoa that was confiscated when New Zealand took possession of the territory. It appears that all such property, which is not liquidated, or liquid, or finally disposed of, will be returned to Germany. The disposition of ex-enemy property in the dominions is, however, an insignificant business in comparison with that which has been the subject lately of some discussion at Home. Formerly it was recognised as a matter of principle in international law that private enemy property, though subject to sequestration in wartime, was released when the war ended. The Treaty of Versailles reversed this custom, probably for the reason that it imposed on Germany heavy financial obligations which that country might not be able to meet, and the Allies deemed it necessary, therefore, to retain such securities as they possessed. The Treaty provided that enemy and allied Governments should satisfy the claims of their own nations, but only the allied Governments were permitted to liquidate sequestrated property. The Dawes Plan, like the Versailles Treaty, permitted the expropriation of cxenemy property. The result has been that the British Government has not only had ample funds with which to meet the claims for damage to, or loss of, British property, but has amassed a surplus which, it has been estimated, may, hi the final

balance, reach £.14,000,000, while Germany has been able to allow her dispossessed subjects only fractional compensation, averaging 12 per cent, of the claims. The effect of a discussion a few weeks ago in the House of Lords was to suggest that the Government intended to release to its former owners that German property which has not yet been liquidated, on a principle similar to that which seems to have been adopted in respect of exGerman property in Western Samoa. The scale of reparations annuities fixed under the Young Plan has, however, been drawn up, according to Lord Passfield, on the definite understanding that no deduction from the annuities may be claimed from Germany on account of this surplus. It has been represented to the Government that it should make a generous offer to credit this surplus as part payment on the annuities, but the validity of this view is open to question when the ultimate losses that will be Britain’s legacy from the war are considered. Great Britain has actually returned £5,000,000 in “compassionate allowances ” and has offered to release a further sum of £5,000,000 —which, the Spectator observes, at least puts her in a better position morally than any other country on this question.