§ 51. Mr. H. WILLIAMSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is in a position to furnish any information in respect to the negotiations for a settlement of inter-Allied debts?
§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Churchill)On the 26th June Notes were addressed to the French, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Rumanian and Serbian Governments stating that His Majesty's Government hoped to receive from each of the Governments concerned at an early date, definite proposals for cash payments in respect of their Debt. In these Notes attention was drawn to the statement which I made in this House on the 10th December, 1924, that
Any payments made by our debtors in Europe to. their creditors in the United States should be accompanied simultaneously pari passu by proportionate payments to Great Britain.An acknowledgment has been received from the French and Portuguese Governments; the French Government, after 218 referring to certain preliminary conversations which have already taken place, confirm the statement recently made at Geneva to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs by the French Minister of Finance that negotiations will be resumed very shortly with the desire to arrive at a speedy decision. The Italian Government, as I informed the hon. and gallant Member for South Hackney on the 30th June, have formally notified His Majesty's Government of their willingness to initiate conversations of a definite character for a friendly settlement of their War Debt to this country.