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Show NEW QUESTION IN WORLD LAW J Confiscation of Church Property Prop-erty in War Time Raises Difficulty LONDON, Jan. 88. (By The Asso-I Asso-I elated Press.) A new and embarras- : sing point of International law relut-I relut-I Ing to the confiscation of church I property in wartime has arisen In the British prize court. Claims aggregating man hundreds ol thousands Of dollars have been en- red by the owners Of such articles as regalias, surplices, altar cloths, memorial mem-orial glass windows, statuary, gold onwnunlon cups, crucifixes and ro-i tries, all of enemy origin, which were shipped by German and Austrian I , agents or manufacturers to American merchants, churches and colleges, while the world war was in progress. The ships conveying the goods were j seized by British warships and the goods sold by public auction as en- emy prizes. Owners In the United Slates, under the leadership of Qoetses & company, j of Chicago, and of Treffel In Qer-1 many, represented by former Senator j. Hamilton Lewis, of Illinois, claim) the amount realized from tho prize. sale ami losses ami fiiimiiK". Claimants argue that under the laws of war of all nations all church property prop-erty Is sacred ami exempt from war seizure. The British government however, contends that the money paid to the j shippers of the sacred goods went to German firms to be used by Germany In the prosecution of the campaign against the allies. The British procurator general's court has Just decided that the eiucs-tlon eiucs-tlon I- s.i delicate and SO Imolved with old and new regulations and war practices prac-tices that It must go In its whole ; aspect before Ihe full prize court, be-! be-! causa there is doubt whether the German Ger-man firms In Germany did not have an interest In the American firms, and also whether the prize court ought not to submit the cise to the new world court at Geneva or the Washington conference to be settled under the- new International laws of war. In the meantime, the money remains re-mains in the British treasury awaiting await-ing a new dispensation on the rules j affecting church property In wartime. Roman Catholics all over tho world are showing great Interest in the Issue |