HKB
the above it is to be noted that, while there is a limitation for the first five years of the amount of Agreement deliveries which can be demanded, there is—
(1) No point at which the right of France to demand these special deliveries automatically terminates.
(2) No final limitation upon the value of the deliveries which can be demanded by France during the lifetime of the Agreement.
(3) No definitely prescribed period within which France’s debt to Germany and to the other partners in reparation shall be liquidated.
It remains necessary to draw attention to one subsidiary point of a financial character under the Schedule of Payments. Part of Germany’s annual reparation liability consists of the payment of 26 per cent of the value of German exports in each period of twelve months, and part of the security for the payment consists of the proceeds of a levy of 25 per cent on the value of all German exports. The French Government has undertaken to support a request, to be submitted by the German Government to the Reparation Commission, for the inclusion in the exports which form the basis of these calculations of that part only of the value of the deliveries made under the Agreement which is credited to Germany and debited to France during any particular year.
If it can be assumed that any part of the special deliveries to be made under the Agreement would, in the absence of the Agreement, have been diverted to Germany’s ordinary external trade, then the concession desired will have the effect of diminishing the annual payments made by Germany for the benefit of the Allies as a whole.
The French Government, having submitted to the Reparation Commission in accordance with Paragraph 3 of the Memorandum thereto attached the Agreement between the representatives of the French and German Governments signed at Wiesbaden on the 6th instant, the Commission has come to the following decision:—
(1) It entirely approves the general principles underlying the Agreement whereby special arrangements are proposed for enabling Germany to liquidate the largest possible proportion of her reparation obligations in the form of goods and services, more especially with a view to the speedier restoration of the Devastated Regions.
(2) At the same time, it considers that the Agreement involves certain departures from the provisions of Part VIII. of the Treaty of Versailles, notably Article 237, Paragraphs 12 and 19 of Annex II. and Paragraph 5 of Annex IV.
(3) As the Commission has no power to authorise such departures, it decides to refer the question to the Governments represented on the Commission, with a copy of the Memorandum and its Annex, recommending a favourable examination of them.
(4) The Commission recommends that reasonable facilities for deferred payment in respect of the exceptional volume which, if the arrangements are successful, the deliveries in kind to France are likely to assume during the next few years, should be accorded to France, subject to any safeguards which the Allied Governments may regard as necessary to protect their respective interests.
The safeguards which are envisaged as necessary by my Italian and Belgian colleagues on the Reparation Commission and myself, and for which we presume that our respective Governments will desire to stipulate are—
(1) That a limit of time should be laid down after the expiration of which no new deferment of debit should be permitted and the liquidation of the existing deferred debits should commence to be made by regular annual instalments.