Air Commodore Harveyasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement about the present position of the distribution of the proceeds of German enemy property.
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§ Mr. MackesonYes. In all, some 33,500 claims to share in the distribution have been received. Many of the claims are, however, extremely complicated and the final determination of all those received is likely to be a lengthy process. In order to make a payment to the maximum number of claimants at the earliest possible date, it has been decided to pay 1s. in the £ as a first instalment on account to all those whose claims have been established and determined at the time of this distribution. Such persons will receive formal notice to that effect.
It is expected that the first payments will begin to be made during March. All claimants whose claims have not then been determined will be notified as and when this is done and those with valid claims will thereafter receive similar advance payments. This procedure of advance payments will apply both to claimants against the general fund and to those for whom it is more favourable to receive a special distribution from the proceeds of the property formerly belonging to their German debtor.
A considerable part of the funds available for distribution is subject to claims in respect of debts due by the German debtors formerly owning the assets and, until all these claims have been determined, it will not be possible to estimate the size of the general dividend or the special dividends payable if these are more favourable. Successful claimants to whom the advance payment is made will later receive the balance of the amount to which they are entitled either out of the Administrator's general fund or out of the proceeds of property which formerly belonged to their debtors.