§ 68. Sir BASIL PETOasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the decision of the Court of Appeal at Nimes in which the rent of premises at Algiers, which included fortifications for the defence of Algiers, and were constructed for the French Government in 1864 by a British firm of contractors, is to be paid in francs at the rate of 25 francs to the £ instead of in gold as provided by the terms of the original contract made in 1883; that the decision provides that such payment is to date from August, 1914, 1798 although the tenant had paid the rent up to the end of December, 1922, in accordance with the contract, thus involving a payment to the tenant of a very large sum of money; and that, in view of the fact that in the case of other contracts for payment to French nationals in gold such payment is being insisted upon, he will make representations in this case?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Godfrey Locker-Lampson)I have not yet seen the decision of the Court at Nimes in the case of the Algiers Land and Warehouse Company, to which the hon. Member's question presumably refers, and I am asking His Majesty's Ambassador to send me a copy of it.
§ Sir B. PETOIs the Under-Secretary of State aware that French holders of Japanese bonds got a decision entitling them to payment in gold, and that foreign bondowners in other cases have obtained a decision in the French Courts upholding their pre-War contracts; whether he can make a special inquiry as to the discrimination in this particular case which upsets contracts which have been in force for 40 years?
§ Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONI will make inquiries.