END OF REPUBLIC.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17180, 25 October 1923, Page 7

END OF REPUBLIC.

LEADER AND FOLLOWERS SURRENDER. ESCORTED OUT OF STRONGHOLD BY BELGIANS. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.—"The Times” Service. (Received October 25, 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, October 24. The Aix La Chappele correspondent of “ The Times” says: “ The days of the Rhineland Republic are numbered.” He describes the dramatic scene at the last Separatist stronghold in which a hundred men refused to surrender, “ unless escorted by our friends the Belgians.” The German police, who gave the men a fifteen minutes’ j ultimatum, were anxious to rush the building, but after conj sultation with the Belgians, they marched off. “ Finally,” the correspondent writes, “ the British ViceConsul was admitted to the building as a mediator. Later the Belgians entered. I followed. “At the table sat Herr Deckers, nervous and anxious. He was offered safe conduct, but appeared unwilling. His attitude ' changed, however, when he was told that the streets would be cleared and a state of siege proclaimed. “ Subsequently he emerged into the street to pose for a picture, and led his handful of supporters in three cheers for the Rhineland Republic and a cry of ‘ Down with Prussia.’ ”