§ Sir B. PETOasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can hold out any hope of an early settlement of the claims of British subjects against the Government of Turkey for War damage by the Commission appointed in 1923; whether interest on the sums found to be due will be allowed; what proportion of the sums set aside to provide compensation will have been spent on the expenses of the Commission in Paris and the staffs of the Commission at Constantinople and Smyrna; whether he is aware that some of the claimants are dead and many are in poverty and without funds to reorganise their business; and what representations have been made by His Majesty's Government with regard to the delay in the settlement of these claims?
Mr. SAMUELIt is hoped that the assessment of claims in respect of damage suffered in Turkey will be completed by the Inter-Allied Commission within the next few months. His Majesty's Government are aware that considerable delay has occurred in assessing the claims and of the hard, hip caused thereby. But it must be remembered that the Commission had some 15,000 claims to assess, some of a very complex nature and many relating to damage in remote districts. The British Delegate on the Inter-Allied Commission is constantly endeavouring to expedite the work, and His Majesty's Government are in close touch with him on the matter. The expenses of the Commission including those incurred in Paris, Constantinople and Smyrna have amounted up to the present day to 1155,705 in all. But it has not been necessary to draw upon the funds set aside to provide compensation in order to meet these expenses, since they have been covered more than four times by the amounts earned by the Commission through the investment of its funds pending their distribution.