PLAN TO DISTRIBUTE REPARATIONS FROM JAPAN

Grey River Argus, 21 May 1947, Page 5

PLAN TO DISTRIBUTE REPARATIONS FROM JAPAN

(Rec. 10.10). NEW YORK, May 19. The Far Eastern Commission has announced that it has agreed that the reparations to be taken from Japan should be distributed among the claimant countries on the basis of the human and the material damage suffered by each during the war with Japan, and of the contribution which each made to Japan’s defeat. The reparations would be taken from Japan "through her existing capital, equipment and facilities, or from such Japanese goods as exist now, or will, in the future be produced.” The reparations must not endanger the programme for the demilitarisation of Japan, or prejudice the defraying of the cost of the occupation and prevent the maintenance of a minimum civilian living standard-

LONDON, May 14.

Reuter's Agency says the decision of a Far Eastern Commission provides a foundation for a general agreement on which a programme for a distribution of reparations can be built. The decision is only portion of the broad overall policy document that is being prepared by the Commission. The Commission has issued a directive* to General MacArthur regarding the sources of Japanese imports and the destination of Japanese exports: It says: ‘‘Comercial exports shall be made only to those i-ecipients who agree, in exchange ,to provide the imports necessary for Japan, or to pay for the Japanese exports in foreign exchange that will be usable for the procuring of necessary imports. The interests of all of the members of the United Nations shal be taken into consideration, and the price for the allocated commodities shall be the same for all of the recipients, and shall, in general, be fixed at the level of the established world price. The Inter-Allied Board of Trade may recommend individual treatment for different types of imports and exports.”