§ 59. Mr. Thorneasked the Prime Minister whether the Government have considered with the Allies the amount of indemnity that the German Government will have to pay when they have been defeated and the question of reparations; and what was the total amount of indemnity and reparations which the German Government were called upon to pay at the end of the last war.
§ The Prime MinisterNo decisions have as yet been reached by the Allies as to the question of the payment of reparations and indemnity by Germany. We have a considerable mass of experience on record. After the last war the German Government were called upon to pay a fixed annuity of £100,000,000 gold and a variable annuity equal to 26 per cent. of the value of German exports, together with further annuities the payment of which was postponed. As my hon. Friend is aware, these figures were afterwards modified and reduced almost to vanishing point. Also, loans of nearly £2,000,000,000 sterling were given to the Germans by the American, and to some extent by the British public, none of which were repaid, and on balance the Germans did better out of it than the others. We must not imitate that this time.
§ Mr. ThorneMay I ask the Prime Minister whether he has at any time seen an extract from "Foreign Affairs" of October, 1934? I will give it to him.
§ The Prime MinisterI am very much obliged.