SHARP REDUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 7

SHARP REDUCTION

GERMAN REPARATIONS ANNOUNCEMENT BY WESTERN POWERS NZPA—Copyright WASHINGTON, Apl. 13. The United States, Britain and France to-day announced a sharp reduction in the number of factories to be removed from Western Germany, All or part of 159 plants are to be* removed from the reparations list previously agreed upon. The equipment, which will be retained in Germany, is located in 32 plants in the steel industry, 88 metal working plants, 32 chemical plants, and seven plants in the non-ferrous metal industries. Five of the steel industry plants produce crude steel, and these will raise Western Germany’s steelmaking capacity by 165.000 tons a year. That will give Western Germany a total capacity of about 13,465.000 tons a year. The production ceiling of 11.100.000 tons a year remains.

The announcements are the latest in a series of moves aimed at this three-fold objective:— 1. To give Germany limited self-government. 2. To advance the conquered nation towards economic selfsufficiency. 3. To enable Germany to con-

tribute more to the total recovery of Europe. •

The reduction of the German reparations list was made on the initiative of the United States as a result of a survey by a group of American industrialists. The group originally selected 381 factories in Germany for a detailed study, and last January recommended that 167 be retained. The recommendatioh was then negotiated by the State Department with the British and French Governments. A compromise agreement was finally confirmed here last week by the Secretary of State, Mr Dean Acheson, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Ernest Bevin, and the French Foreign Minister. Mi Robert Schumann. Harmony with ERP The State Department announcement said that the revision of the reparations list “was made to bring the reparation dismantling programme into harmony with the European Recovery Programme.” The agreement constituted the final decision with regard to the removal of those plants originally, selected in Western Germany, and should enable both the Allied recipients of reparation and, the responsible authorities in Western Germany to plan promptly for the effective use of the equipment to be removed and that to be retained.

Mr Kenneth Royall, United States Army Secretary, said to-day that, a further Three-Power agreement would be made public soon prohibiting some German industries entirely and restricting others as a war-preventive measure.

Mr Royall said that the agreement also would ease the present limitations in 10 industries. German ship-building would be removed from the prohibited list and permitted on a restricted basis. Mr Paul Hoffman, Economic Cooperation Administrator, said that the reparations agreement was a definite contribution to the over-all European Recovery Programme. The three Western Military Governors issued a statement in Berlin on the new level of German industry reparations agreement, saying, “Now that this decision has been made it is intended that the completion of the reparations programme be expedited ;so that it will no longer be an uncertainty in German economic life and so that the remaining plants to be delivered can quickly be placed to work for European recovery.” French Satisfaction ■/

In Paris, the chief of the economic section of the French Foreign Ministry, M. Herve Alphand, described the agreement as satisfactory for France. “ The new limitations, coupled with Allied control of the Ruhr and continuing supervision by the Inter-Allied Military' Security Office, mean that France's desire for security has been taken into consideration,” he said.

Reuter’s Paris correspondent says the Communists see the agreement as another step towards using Western Germany against Russia. The de Gaullists fear that the might of the new Reich might be turned once more against France.

Authoritative London quarters described the agreement as an attempt to strike the balance between allied security requirements and the requirements of German economy. They, said that in the British view the most important security factors had been safeguarded. They added that the agreement reduced the amount of reparations available in the British occupation zone by about 10 per cent, in the value of the figure agreed in the 1947 AngloAmerican level-of-industry plan.