IV

THE TREATY

101

So far there is much, to be said for the Treaty .Freedom of through transit is a not unimportant partof good international practice and should be estab-lished everywhere. The objectionable feature of theCommissions lies in their membership. In each casethe voting is so weighted as to place Germany in aclear minority. On the Elbe Commission Germanyhas four votes out of ten; on the Oder Commissionthree out of nine ; on the Rhine Commission four outof nineteen ; on the Danube Commission, which is notyet definitely constituted, she will be apparently in asmall minority. On the government of all theserivers France and Great Britain are represented ; andon the Elbe for some undiscoverable reason there arealso representatives of Italy and Belgium .

Thus the great waterways of Germany are handedover to foreign bodies with the widest powers; andmuch of the local and domestic business of Hamburg,Magdeburg, Dresden, Stettin, Frankfurt, Breslau , andUlm will be subject to a foreign jurisdiction. It isalmost as though the Powers of Continental Europe were to be placed in a majority on the ThamesConservancy or the Port of London.

Certain minor provisions follow lines which inour survey of the Treaty are now familiar. UnderAnnex III. of the Reparation Chapter Germany isto cede up to 20 per cent of her inland navigationtonnage. Over and above this she must cede suchproportion of her river craft upon the Elbe , the