GERMAN REPARATIONS

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14798, 11 November 1921, Page 5

GERMAN REPARATIONS

ELUDING PAYMENT NO PROVISION IN BUDGET. COUNTRY COURTING BANKRUPTCY. (.The Times.) Received November 10, 5.5 p.m. PARIS, November 8. Evidence is accumulating of a plot by German manufacturers to combine to deliberately engineer the country inlo bankruptcy. It is significant that the Budget does not provide for the payment of reparations. French financiers believe that the plot originated in political manoeuvres. Since the war big manufacturers have consistently made efforts to avoid reparation payments, piling up fortunes instead of fulfilling' the treaty. The same combine held the Simmons Government in a stranglehold, and now the Wirth Administration trembles at its nod. In its financial and economic policy the Government lets them off as lightly as possible. The system of taxation enables production at, the cheapest rate, while the laxity of the laws permits the export, of capital abroad at the same time as the goods they manufacture. Frenchmen arc asking Germany for a clearly-defined reparations payment scheme, declaring that if she has not one the Allies must find one for tier. BERLIN, Nov. 8. The Reparations Commission has arrived. It is considered probable that the German Government will propose a moratorium to enable the finances to be stabilised, but a moratorium without financial reform would be useless. PARIS. Nov. 9. President ''Millerand presided at a Cabinet conference to consider measures to safeguard French interests in the event of the falling mark leading to German failure. BERLIN, Nov. 9. The Government is submitting a Bill in the Reichstag to check excessive speculation in exchanges. It provides penalties for wild speculation and a heavy tax upon profits.