it will be impossible for Germany to fulfil the whole of her Reparation obligations, the effect of the above provisions will be in practice that the Allies will occupy the left bank of the Rhine just so long as they choose.  They will also govern it in such manner as they may determine (e.g. not only as regards customs, but such matters as the respective authority of the local German representatives and the Allied Governing Commission), since “all matters relating to the occupation and not provided for by the present Treaty shall be regulated by subsequent agreements, which Germany hereby undertakes to observe” (Art. 432).  The actual Agreement under which the occupied areas are to be administered for the present has been published as a White Paper [Cd. 222].  The supreme authority is to be in the hands of an Inter-Allied Rhineland Commission, consisting of a Belgian, a French, a British, and an American member.  The articles of this Agreement are very fairly and reasonably drawn.

[62] Art. 365.  After five years this Article is subject to revision by the Council of the League of Nations.

[63] The German Government withdrew, as from September 1, 1919, all preferential railway tariffs for the export of iron and steel goods, on the ground that these privileges would have been more than counterbalanced by the corresponding privileges which, under this Article of the Treaty, they would have been forced to give to Allied traders.

[64] Art. 367.

[65] Questions of interpretation and application are to be referred to the League of Nations (Art. 376).

[66] Art. 250.

[67] Art 371.  This provision is even applied “to the lines of former Russian Poland converted by Germany to the German gage, such lines being regarded as detached from the Prussian State System.”

[68] Arts. 332-337.  Exception may be taken, however, to the second paragraph of Art. 332, which allows the vessels of other nations to trade between German towns but forbids German vessels to trade between non-German towns except with special permission; and Art. 333, which prohibits Germany from making use of her river system as a source of revenue, may be injudicious.

[69] The Niemen and the Moselle are to be similarly treated at a later date if required.

[70] Art. 338.

[71] Art. 344.  This is with particular reference to the Elbe and the Oder; the Danube and the Rhine are dealt with in relation to the existing Commissions.

[72] Art. 339.

[73] Art. 357.

[74] Art. 358.  Germany is, however, to be allowed some payment or credit in respect of power so taken by France.

[75] Art. 66.

CHAPTER V

REPARATION

I. Undertakings given prior to the Peace Negotiations