GERMAN PRINCES RETAIN PROPERTY

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17879, 22 June 1926, Page 8

GERMAN PRINCES RETAIN PROPERTY

MANY THOUSANDS ABSTAIN FROM VOTING. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Reuter's Telegrams. BERLIN, June 21. The official figures in the referendum on the question of confiscating the property of the ex-rulers of Germany are : For 14.589.703 Against 542,311 At least 19,000,000 votes were necessary to carry to referendum in favour of the confiscation of the ex-rulers’ property without compensation, and it is estimated that only 16.000,000 voted. The proposal was therefore defeated. Thirty-five per cent of the electors voted, yet 60 per cent abstained from voting, and the remaining 5 per cent voted either “No” or in validly. Nearly half of the electorate of Berlin voted for confiscation, and a similar proportion in other large cities, including President I lindenburg’s town of Hanover, but in the country districts, where the Nationalists hold sway', the populace obeyed the Nationalist leaders' summons to abstain from voting. It is noteworthy that not a single Cabinet member entered a booth. Notwithstanding the excitement engendered, there were no serious disorders bey'ond minor clashes in Berlin and elsewhere among small factions.