Captain BENNasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what has been decided to be the British share of the £50,000,000 paid by Germany in August last; and whether this amount has been paid over or is still in the hands of the Reparation Commission?
Mr. YOUNGThe amount of 450,000,000 gold marks was provisionally taken as the amount due to this country on account of the cost of the British Army of Occupation prior to 1st May, 1921, out of the amount of 1,000,000,000 gold marks (not £50,000,000 sterling) paid by Germany in August last. The final allocation of this latter amount is not yet decided, but the sum of £29,453,895, being the equivalent of 450,000,000 gold marks, has been paid over to the Treasury as Miscellaneous Revenue.
§ Sir R. BLAIRasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can give the estimated annual cost, including salaries, expenses, and rent of offices, of the Reparations Commission; and whether this is a charge on the British Exchequer?
Mr. YOUNGI am informed that the estimated annual cost of the Reparation Commission and of the Committee of Guarantees amounts to about £700,000. 1809W This sum covers the expenses of both the national delegations and the international organisation in relation to Germany, Austria, and Hungary, and includes the cost of offices at Paris, Berlin, Essen, Wiesbaden, and Budapesth. It also includes the expenses of the work of disposing of German war material, a task accepted by the Commission in addition to its Treaty duties at the request of the Allied Governments. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative. The costs of the restitution and reparation work of the Commission are paid by Germany, Austria, and Hungary, and the costs of disposing of war material are met out of the proceeds of the sales.