§ 35. Major COURTHOPEasked the Prime Minister whether the British Ambassador was instructed in 1918 to inform the French Government that His Majesty's Government was prepared to enter into an agreement with regard to reciprocal payment of compensation in 1120 respect of damages caused by the War, and to inquire in what form the French Government would desire such an agreement to be concluded; whether such agreement has ever been entered into, and what prospect there is of the British sufferers, whose claims amount to many millions, being able to obtain adequate compensation for their losses in France; and whether His Majesty's Government is aware of the loss being suffered by British traders in France owing to delay in settlement of this question, and that they have to stand by whilst their French competitors are ousting them from their positions?
§ Mr. BALDWINI understand that a suggestion was made to the French Government that an agreement should be arrived at in which British subjects who had suffered damage in France should receive compensation from the French Government on the same terms as French subjects, while French subjects who had suffered damage in the United Kingdom would reciprocally receive compensation on the same terms as British subjects. No such agreement has, however, been made, but a proposal was in fact made by the French Government that they should advance compensation to British subjects in France on the same basis as compensation payable to French subjects in return for an advance by His Majesty's Government to French subjects in this country. This proposal would, in effect, result in giving preferential treatment to one particular class of claimants amongst those British subjects who have legitimate, claims against Germany under the Reparation Clauses of the Treaty, and it is, for this reason, impossible to entertain it.