2. Captain BENNasked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state for each of the safeguarding committees for how many hours it has sat in public and for how many hours in private; and how many witnesses have been examined in public and how many in private?
Sir P. CUNLIFFK-LISTERAs the reply includes a number of figures, with the hon. and gallant Member's permission, I will circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ The particulars applied are at follow:
§ consider other means of compensating these seamen, in view of the fact that the owners of the ships concerned have already received reparation?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe answer is rather long, and includes a, table of figures. I would propose, therefore, if the hon. and gallant Member does not object, to have it circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Captain BENNCan the right hon. Gentleman give any assurance that the claims of these men will be sympathetically considered, and is he aware that many of them are in great financial difficulty?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERIf the hon. and gallant Member will refer to the previous answers on the subject, he will see that a special arrangement was made some time ago with the German Government which is now Toeing carried out, and it is much more satisfactory than before.
Captain BENNIs it not a fact that some parts of the large sums voted by this House are still unexpended, and apparently are to be repaid to the Treasury?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe hon and gallant Member is wrong. What he is asking about are reparation claims now in negotiation with the German Government. The other is a matter of Treasury grants, which is quite a different form of payment.
§ Following it the reply to the Question on the Paper:
§ The hon. and gallant Member no doubt refers in the first part of his question to claims lodged by seamen with the Clearing Office under Clause 4 of the Annex to Section IV of Part, X of the Treaty of Versailles in respect of pre-War detention. A large proportion of those claims have now been settled under the Agreement concluded with the German Authorities in May last, and fresh settlements are being reached every day. Details are given in the following statement.
| Cases. | |||
| Total claims lodged by seamen under Clause 4 | … | 926 | |
| Total claims settled to date | … | 322 | 409 |
| Total claims rejected to date | … | 87 | |
| Balance still outstanding | … | 517 | |
| Out of this balance of 517, offers have already been made by the German Authorities in | … | 405 | |
| The position in respect of these 405 offers is as follows:— | |||
| Accepted by claimants and awaiting formal confirmation | … | 97 | |
| Communicated to claimants and awaiting their reply | … | 176 | |
| Still under discussion between Clearing Office and German Authorities | … | 132 | |
| No offers have yet been made by the German Authorities in | … | 112 | |
| 517 |
§ The claims of the shipowners in respect of damage to their property fall under 2158 different provisions of the Treaty from those covering the claims referred to above, and different principles are involved. In this connection I would refer to my reply to the hon. and gallant Member on 24th November, a copy of which I am sending him.