FULL AGREEMENT

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17804, 31 August 1929, Page 6

FULL AGREEMENT

! The announcement that a complete i agreement lias been reached at The | Hague on the war reparations problem I will be received with satisfaction by I all classes in all the countries conj corned. There were many tense | moments during the conference, and J the fear was expressed on more than ! one occasion that the negotiations | would break down and that chaos j would reign. Happily all difficulties ! have been surmounted and the busij ness has been placed upon a more ! satisfactory basis than has been the j case hitherto. Germany’s liability has i been definitely fixed and the interested j Powers are assured of an equitable ; distribution of the amount which the i Committee of Experts deemed the limit ' of her ability to pay. The system i which the experts suggested should he ! adopted in apportioning I lie reparation j payments between Britain, France, • Belgium and Italy lias been readjusted, j despite the fact that some of the | Powers at first insisted that the Conj i'eronce must accept the Plan, the j whole Plan and nothing hut the Plan. | Mr Snowden, the British Chancellor, | was very severely criticised for the ialliludc he took up in declaring that j die Plan was not acceptable to Britain j because it called upon her to make lurther sacrifices whilst the other Allied Powers gained. Under the scheme as laid down by the experts Britain would have lost £2,400,000 a year, while France stood to gain £535,000, Italy £1.340.000. and Belgium

£<• J 0,000. To this proposal Mr Snowden took exception, and declared that if further sacrifices were to he made they would have to he shared or: an equitable basis: Britain was not going to do all Hie sacrificing whilst her erstwhile allies were accorded all the benefits. He declared: “We are prepared to wipe the slate clean in regard to all international debts and reparations, hut as long as reparations arc paid and received and as long as debts arc payable, every Government In Great Britain will insist upon Great Britain being treated fairly in tiiis matter.” From that position Mr Snowden steadfastly refused to budge, and the representatives of the other Powers were compelled to give way and meet bis demands. The outcome is a personal triumph for the British Chancellor. Having gained his point and raised British prestige to a higher ievel than it lias been for a considerable period, he gracefully conceded some of the ground gamed in favour of Germany, and thus assisted in the solution of the financial problem enabling a complete agreement to be reached. With the vexed question of reparation placed On a definite basis there is reason to hope that the European countries will set to work to place their houses In order, and that any strain or stress which may have been in evidence during the negotiations will he forgotten in the common determination to strive for international peace, amity and concord.