The Star. SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1923. FRANCE REJECTS GERMANY’S OFFER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17033, 5 May 1923, Page 6

The Star. SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1923. FRANCE REJECTS GERMANY’S OFFER.

The French Cabinet unanimously rejected the offer made by Germany. The German Government must have had small hope of success when it compiled the Note. , The whole proposal was a futile one, and the only conclusion possible was that Germany believes that the determination of the French to hold the Ruhr cap be worn down. The Note itself was couched in highly provocative terms—-the language was that of conquerors, not of suppliants. There was a curt refusal to discontinue the passive resistance which is being used against the French occupation. Added to this was a demand that the high-handed seizure of pledges and sanctions should cease. The first essential to negotiations, according to the Germans, was the restoration of the status quo ante—in other words, the withdrawal of the French from the Ruhr, and the restoration to Germany of th 9 property and services now controlled and operated by the French. It is astounding that the German Ministers should have had the effrontery, to make such a proposition. They must have known that they hardly contained a talking point. They traverse' the familiar ground of Germany’s inability to pay, and pleas for international loans for which no security is offered. The Government proposes to be ready to devise measures to ensure that the whole of Germany’s national resources shall guarantee the loans. There is no certainty that the amount would be raised, and Germany proposes to transfer her responsibilities in that matter to an impartial International Commission. It is not surprising that France has rejected the terms, which are more of an insult than an offer. If Germany has spoken her last word—and that is plainly implied in the Note—France and Belgium will intensify the exploitation of the Ruhr, and still further extend the area under their joint occupation. Neither France nor Belgium will agree to the reference of reparations and the security of frontiers to an International Commission, because the detached point of view of Britain and America is not that of the two countries which adjoin Germany and were invaded and devastated. France has made it plain to the world that she has planted her flag in the Ruhr, and that it will only he lowered when she has received adequate compensation for her ruthlessly devastated territory.