§ Major GLYNasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information to the effect that the Government of Roumania proposes to negotiate a loan of 40,000,000 Swiss 84W francs, of which 16,000,000 in specie remains free for application to such purposes as the Roumanian Government may desire, and of which 24,000,000, also in specie, is to be set aside for use in connection with orders made by the Roumanian Government to Swiss factories; whether the plan of the Roumanian Finance Minister is to allocate 24,000,000 Swiss francs for improving postal, telephone, and telegraph services, and railway material; and whether the loan will be covered by 7,500 wagons of grain to be delivered by May, 1922, and a similar number of wagons of grain of the 1922 crop, the grain being valued at Antwerp prices?
Mr. HARMSWORTHI understand that the Roumanian Government have succeeded in floating a loan of 40,000,000 Swiss francs, of which 16,000,000 will be paid in instalments and 24,000,000 received in the form of Swiss material for the improvement of the Roumanian telegraph, postal, and railway services. This advance is to be repaid by the delivery of wheat from the Roumanian Government, half from this year's harvest and half from the harvest of 1922. The above information is not as yet official, and is given subject to correction.
§ Major GLYNasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Roumanian Government are about to complete the agreement made with France for the delivery of 15,000 wagons of wheat due to the French Government; and whether, in the event of the Roumanian Government being successful in negotiating a loan with Switzerland, the value of Roumanian bonds is being assessed at at least 50 per cent. of its face value, or, if not, at what value?
Mr. HARMSWORTHI have seen Press accounts of a Franco-Roumanian loan, but I have no official information on the subject.