THE THREATENED RIFT.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 15310, 10 August 1923, Page 4

THE THREATENED RIFT.

According to the latest telegrams there seems little prospect of bridging the gulf between the British and •French Governments on the reparations problem. France has adopted an attitude of "no compromise," and seems determined to pursue it to the bitter end. In the light of the French policy, it is quite understandable that Germany can see little to gain from Britain's intervention, and has decided to continue her efforts to circumvent the invader. This, of course, -can only culminate in trouble. The internal conditions in Germany are drifting from bad to worse; the value of the mark has reached vanishing point, and the consequent discontent amongst the masses, in the very nature of things, must eventually find expression. The -German party leaders have agreed that negotiations with France are now out of the question, and Herr Cuno, the German Chancellor, urges that the resistance to French methods should be intensified. France regards the possession of the Ruhr as a pledge for payment by Germany to which she is determined to hold on. With Belgium she declines -to relax the pressure until Germany abandons passive resistance. She adheres to the principle, that the Ruhr can only be evacuated pari passu with payments effected by Germany. So Great Britain's effort to' take the lead in what the Westminster Gazette has called "a belated but determined effort to prevent the ruin of Europe" has fallen somewhat flat Perhaps that was to be expected. Certainly it was freely enough predicted that the British proposals would be unwelcome to France. At the .time of their formulation Lord Birkenhead bluntly inquired what the British Government proposed to do in the event of French disagreement. The answer to that question is again the subject of speculation. Mr Baldwin and Lord Gurzon are 'doing a little more, it mav be 'surmised, than "calmly awaiting the verdict of the world." The gravity of the menace to the maintenance of the Entente can scarcely be exaggerated. But the responsibility therefor rests entirely upon the shoulders of France.