TREATY OF VERSAILLES. MORE GERMAN TRICKERY.

FROM A DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT.

In British official circles there is no inclination to lay undue stress upon the differences which have arisen between London and Rome on the one hand, and Paris, Brussels (and Washington) on the other, as to what should be the future procedure in regard to the settlement of the German indemnity problem. Some of our French contemporaries are making a good deal of these differences, which, when dispassionately examined, impress one on the whole as slight. For instance, our French and Belgian Allies do not propose that the meeting between Allied and German experts agreed to at Spa should be cancelled, but that the Allied experts should be those of the Reparations Commission, instead of a new committee. This suggestion, it is contended, would simplify matters, and would also make for strict legality.

What is admittedly more important, and is at present still undecided, is whether, after the Allied experts have conferred with the German experts and submitted their conclusions to the heads of the Allied Governments, the latter will then take their final decisions on the subject without meeting the heads of the German Government for a second time, as at Spa. All that need be said in this connection is that Berlin is not entitled to claim a fresh meeting with the Entente Premiers as a matter of right. Moreover, the appropriateness of such a renewal is beginning to be questioned, even in British circles, owing to recent attempts by Germany to evade her engagements under the Peace of Versailles.

Germany’s threat not to deliver to France and Belgium the quantities of coal stipulated by the Spa Coal Protocol will not help her. For the excuse put forward by Berlin, namely, the disturbances in the Upper Silesian coalfield, is deemed a flimsy and impudent one. The main cause of the disturbances here has been due to the incitement given the German elements by the German officials to resist incorporation within the Polish State, whatever the result of the plebiscite presented by the Treaty of Versailles.

The action of the German Government in prohibiting transit through the Kiel Canal of Allied or neutral vessels carrying munitions for Poland is regarded as yet another deliberate and most insolent flouting of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany’s attitude is the more ungracious and cynical when it is remembered that, upon the proposal of the American delegation, the Supreme Council refrained from establishing an Allied naval and military guard along the canal. And yet, although she loses no opportunity of evading her treaty obligations, Germany seems to expect further concessions from the Supreme Council. She should begin by deserving them.