A French paper has published a report drawn up by
the German Commission on the reparation to be made to France. As it is the first tentative German offer of a fixed sum, we may note that the German Commission estimates the damage done at £361,431,100, less £10,000,000 for new roads and the like, on the basis of the prices prevailing before the war. The total is about a tenth of the more modest French estimates, so that the offer is not likely to give satisfaction. For example, the total damage done to cathedrals and historic buildings is assessed at £3,000,000, which is obviously ridiculous in view of the Germans' habit of destroying all the cathedrals and churches within their reach. Nevertheless, the fact that the German Government has caused an estimate to be made shows that wiser counsels are beginning to prevail in Berlin and that the Allied demands for the fulfilment of the Peace Treaty are not to be met with merely evasive replies when the Conference opens at Spa next Monday.
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