§ Mr. RUNCIMANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether in view of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles affecting the right of British traders to recover in Germany the value of goods exported from them to Germany prior to the outbreak of war which were commandeered by the German Government, he will say whether any and, if so, what steps have been taken to secure to these British exporters the right of obtaining payment for such goods as have been sold on free-on-board terms through the Anglo-German Clearing House?
§ Sir B. CHADWICKIf the goods were the property of the British trader and were seized in German territory, he would have been entitled to lodge a claim against the German Government through the Clearing Office under Article 297 of the Treaty of Versailles. If the property had passed to the German consignee, the British trader would have been entitled to lodge a claim with the Clearing Office under Article 296 in respect of a pre-War 1593W debt owing by such consignee, provided that the parties concerned were respectively resident in British and German territory on the date of the ratification of the Treaty. The respective time limits for lodging these claims have, however, expired.