HAGUE WRANGLE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11296, 23 August 1922, Page 2

HAGUE WRANGLE

BRITISH DELEGATE’S PLAIN TALK TO LITVJNOFF.

THE HAGUE, July 7. The session of the Sub-Committee on Private Property, -which was attended by the Russian delegates, was of a distinctly lively character. Sir Pbiisp Uoyd Graeme informed the Russians that the Sub-Commission could not reply to M. Ldtvinoff’s questionnaire regarding the claims of private persons against Russia. The necessary inquiry would last too long, and it appeared, moreover, that the time for such an inquiry had not yet arrived. M. LitvinoS was insistent and argumentative, with the result that there was a protracted discussion. The SubOommission held firmly to its ground, and Sir Philip Lloyd Graeme found it necessary to speak very plainly. Nobody, he said, would provide money for Russian industry unless satisfactory security was forthcoming for property-owners in future, and satisfactory indemnities for those who had owned property in Russia in the past. Litvinoff later handed the Commission the text of q. decree issued in May by the Council of Commissaries, which carries into effect some undertakings given by the Soviets regarding private property. The decree admit® rights to property acquired since May, but is not retrospective. Although not considered satisfactory in many respects, the decree is generally regarded as being a move in the right direction. —Reuter.