A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
RATHER disturbing news reaches me from Holland about the growing feeling in that country at the non-return of Dutch pro- perty of various kinds plundered by the Germans. No doubt some of the bitterness—which is directed largely at the British, who are in occupation of the zone of Germany adjoining Holland—is unreason- able, but much of it is natural enough. Holland has suffered terribly during the war, and the food situation is far from good now. That is being borne uncomplainingly, and it is recognised that the settlement of the general question of reparations must be left over for the moment. But where objects, perfectly concrete and identifiable, have been carried off from Holland into Germany— whether they are canvases by Rubens or Rembrandt, or cattle plainly branded with their Dutch owners' mark—and nothing is done about sending them back, it is intelligible enough that criticism of the authorities responsible for the continued detention should be batter. The occupying authorities in the British zone have many things to think of, but they ought not to fail to think of this.
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