§ 9. Major GLYNasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is possible to state what was the approximate total national annual income of Germany from November, 1918, to November, 1919; what is anticipated to be the income of the German Empire for the current financial year; and whether it is possible to estimate the ability of Germany to pay instalments of the indemnity without some knowledge of these facts?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Baldwin)It would be 1052 quite impossible to make any estimate of the present German national income, on account not only of the absence of economic statistics, but of the instability of the purchasing power of the German currency unit. The ability of Germany to pay depends rather on her future economic position than on her present national income.
§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYHas Germany, so far, paid a penny on account of the indemnity?
§ Mr. BALDWINThe hon. Gentleman has a question on that point.
§ 10. Major GLYNasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Germany has approximately 38,000,000 acres of corn land available for cultivation; how many acres are good to be sown; and what obstacles, if any, stand in the way of Germans cultivating the soil to the utmost limit of its capacity?
Mr. HARMSWORTHNo information is available as to the acreage of corn land in Germany available for cultivation, although inquiries on this point are being made. The latest official returns for the years 1918 and 1919 show for Germany (excluding the provinces ceded without a plebiscite) a total area under cultivation with cereals, pulses, roots, etc., of 37,000,000 and 25,000,000 acres respectively. Apart from the difficulties arising from an unsettled state of government, the chief obstacles in the way of a more intensive cultivation of the soil are the lack of artificial manures and of skilled agricultural labour, accentuated by the absence of the seasonal Polish labour, which was formerly available.
§ Major GLYNHave representations been made by the British Commission in Berlin that assistance should be given to help Germany to cultivate as much soil as possible, thereby relieving the Allies, and relieving the German people?
Mr. HARMSWORTHI do not think such representations have been made, and I do not see how they could be made.
§ 45. Mr. BROMFIELDasked the Prime Minister how many Allied missions are at the present time lodged in Vienna; how many men constitute the British mission there; and whether he will consider the 1053 advisability of reducing the numbers of British officials housed and fed in Vienna in view of the conditions of starvation prevailing there?
Mr. HARMSWORTHApart from the several Allied diplomatic missions, there are in Vienna seven inter-Allied missions, of which the British members number twenty. There are in addition one British officer in command of a detachment of troops numbering thirty-two.
In view of the important and valuable work performed by these officials in helping to organise transport and supplies, I consider that the balance of advantage, from the Austrian point of view, inclines to their retention in Vienna.
§ 46. Mr. BOTTOMLEYasked the Prime Minister how much and in what form Germany has so far paid in respect of the cost of the Army of Occupation or the indemnity and reparation Clauses of the Peace Treaty; and to what extent, if any, Britain has benefited by such payments?
§ Mr. BALDWINI must refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 25th March, to a similar question addressed to the Prime Minister by the hon. Member for Southwark as regards the cost of the Army of Occupation. It is for the Reparation Commission, an inter-allied body, to decide how and when within a period of 30 years from 1st May, 1921, Germany is to discharge her obligations in respect of reparation, the amount of which has to be notified to her by the Commission on or before that date.
§ Mr. BILLINGWill the Leader of the House say whether the Government has received anything up to now?
§ Mr. MacVEAGHNo. You never will.
§ Mr. BONAR LAW (Leader of the House)If the hon. Gentleman will refer to the question to which my hon. Friend refers, he will find the answer.
§ Mr. BILLINGMight we not receive something in the meantime? [An HON. MEMBER: "The answer is a lemon."]