§ Of the total deadweight debt estimated at £7,835,000,000, external debt accounts for £1,278,000,000 showing a reduction of £86,000,000 in the course of the year, a 75 not unsatisfactory result, and these figures will be further reduced in the current year by the repayment of the Anglo-French loan of 500,000,000 dollars. The Committee is aware that the French and British Governments have decided to repay the whole of that loan next autumn without further borrowing in the United States, and each Government will provide for half of the total maturity. We ourselves have already begun to ship gold to meet our share, and the announcement of our intention and the action already taken have had the happiest effect on our credit and justify any sacrifice which is involved.