HC Deb 14 December 1932 vol 273 cc321-3
5. Captain P. MACDONALD

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if, under the Lausanne Conference Final Act, the committee has been set up to consider the group of questions known as non-German reparations; and, if so, whether he can state the membership of the committee, the number of times it has met, and the business which has been decided?

Mr. EDEN

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The committee is, as provided in Annex 3 to the Final Act of the Lausanne Conference, composed of one representative of each of the Governments concerned, namely, those of Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Rumania, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia. Owing to unforeseen circumstances the assembly of the committee, which was fixed to take place early in November, has been postponed and no date for its meeting has yet been fixed.

Captain MACDONALD

Would my hon. Friend say who is the British representative?

Mr. EDEN

I could not do so without notice.

48. Mr. HAMMERSLEY

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will request the United States administration to accept notification of the postponement of the payment of the instalment due on 15th December and waive the notice required by the Debt Funding Agreement of 1922?

The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Hore-Belisha)

I would ask my hon. Friend to await the statement which my right hon. Friend pro-noses to make this afternoon.

Mr. HAMMERSLEY

Can my hon. Friend say whether it is competent for the administration of the United States to waive the term in respect of notice?

Mr. HORE-BELISHA

The fact is that the Funding Agreement of the 18th June, 1923, provides that the repayment of capital under the terms of that agreement may be postponed for not more than two years upon giving 90 days' notice, and the Secretary to the United States Treasury may waive such notice.

49. Mr. NEIL MACLEAN

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can state the sum received from the United States for the transport of troops during the War from the United States to Europe; and whether the fares were charged at first-class or cheaper rates?

Mr. HORE-BELISHA

I am informed that it would require considerable research to ascertain the facts asked for in the question, and it has not therefore been possible to obtain them in the time available.

50 and 51. Mr. MACLEAN

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) the total value of cash and property, including the share of German pre-War colonies, received by France to date as her part of indemnities from Germany;

(2) the total value of cash and property, including the share of German pre-War colonies, received by Great Britain to date as her share of indemnities from Germany?

Mr. HORE-BELISHA

The total value of the German reparation payments and deliveries in cash and in kind received by France and the United Kingdom respectively, excluding receipts on account of costs of Armies of Occupation, etc., have been as follow:

France £295,000,000
United Kingdom £122,000,000
The figures, so far as they relate to the period before the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, have been taken from the accounts of the Reparation Commission, and conversion into sterling has been calculated at the old par of exchange. These figures include the value of the Saar Mines and of certain State properties in ceded territories, but they do not include any valuation in respect of the cession of the Mandated Colonies or of Alsace-Lorraine.

Mr. MACLEAN

As it does not include the value of mandated territories, will the hon. Gentleman inform the House of any statement as to the calculated value of those territories?

Mr. HORE-BELISHA

These territories were not appropriated to this country or any other; they were mandated. Therefore, the value of them cannot he assessed as an asset to this country or any ether.

Mr. MACLEAN

To whom does the value of the mandated territories pass if they were left in suspense, as so many other things are left by this Government?