The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1919. AN UNLIKELY PROSPECT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16887, 7 August 1919, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1919. AN UNLIKELY PROSPECT.

Sir Joseph. Ward gave good. ad«« vice when lie was asked in Auck* land • what jSfew Zealand could expect to receive in repayment of her war expenditure irom the reparation that will be charged .■to'-Germany. The advice would have been better still if it had been briefer. The only safe course for New Zealand to pursue, said the finance Minister, was not to count on anything coming to her under this heading, and he added most unnecessarily, "at least for the present. ''• There is only one clause of the "Reparation and Restitution''provisions of the Peace Treaty under which the dominion Governments, whose territories wera unbombed and unravaged, could have any claim for compensation. That is the fourth clause, covering "damages to the Allied peoples represented by pensions and separation allowances capitalised at the signature of thi? Treaty." Some Australians have been estimating, in scores of millions, the amount which they can expect to receive under this head* ing. The Allied peoples will be, lucky if they see a penny of it* It is practically certain that thei ability of Germany to pay will be exhausted before she can answer prior demands upon her; Mr Hughes urged continually at the Peace Conference that Germany should be made to paj, all the costs of the war. Sir Joseph "Ward holds the same view. It is a fine point. . "Wai is such a hideous thing that wa would not, for pur own part) have even the just belligerents find that they could wage it pro-* Stably, and the dominions have benefited by war "•'•ices. Better than any other coxmtries they can pay their war costs. But, whatever be the ethics of the question, -it is certain that Germany never could be able to pay them for all the Allies. It is not with the pre-war Germany that we have to deal, but, as Mr Lloyd George has pointed out, with a country that has lost three-ciuarters of its iron ore, oue third of its coal, and seven millions _of its population, not to mention all its colonies, by territorial readjustments, and, in its untouched territory, has still to recover ■ from the war. The terms of peace announced before the Armistice, and based upon the wise resolve that nothing should be demanded which could only bear fruit in undying hatred, forebore to require of Germany any war costs, or indemnities in the usual sense, and if that reason had not obtained for charging only for destruction caused, the inability of Germany to pay for more would have been sufficient reason.

If tke Germans slow a different spirit in the next few years from that which they are showing- now there is no doubt that the financial terms Avail be lightened for them. The League of Nations, more especially if it i s considered as a League in which the greatest Powers must have predominance, will be incomplete till Germany is a member of it, willing and able to work with it And the first demand that will be waived, when the terms come to be considered bv the Allies' Reparation Commission, pretty certainly will be that for repayment of pensions. When the Peace Treaty was first published we stated that the only clauses which might be held to transgress Mr Wilson's terms, as. amended by the Allies before the Armistice, were this clause and the one prohibiting union of Germany and of German-Austria.. In an exhaustive and most admirable study of the Treaty iu the latest, number of the "Hound Table" just to hand the same points are made. The Germans can nave no real grievance against the separation of their country and the Austrian State. They were never combined. But the "Hound Table" writer is convinced that demands for pen-' sions and for separation allowances simply are not reconcilable with the Allies' statement ot jrhjvt £hey Eeauire* .which;

vas "compensation for all damdone to the civilian populai<ju of the Allies and to their roper ty by tk agression of iumuuiy by land, by sea, and rom the air." "If the soldier's leusiou is damage," asks this 'l'itish writer, "why not the ddier's pay? And if that., why ■t the cost of .shells and g'uns, Hid, in fact, every expense arisout of the cost of the war? ■in i«'ht be urged that Ave were Htitlcd to say that Germany Hbuld j)ay all .such expenses. Hp'taiuly Ave were. But we did B>t say it." It is contended Biat, for our honour's sake, this ilaim must be . justified., It is iot shoAvn that the Germans ever complained against it. They were too busy complaining- against all challengeable claims. But it is most unlikely that this demand will eA'er be enforceable or enforced. Our war debts must be paid by ourselves.;