GERMAN REPARATIONS

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15033, 2 September 1922, Page 5

GERMAN REPARATIONS

COMMISSION’S DECISION RESPITE FROM CASH PAYMENTS. SIR JOHN BRADBURY'S VIEWS. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) LONDON. August 31. Tile Reparations Commission unanimously carried the following resolution: —“The commission replying lo the demand for a moratorium dated July 19, and considering that tile Reich has' lost all its credit at home and abroad, and that the mark has fallen to a tlu'ee-thousandth part of its value, decides first to postpone a decision upon the demand from the Reich until it has completed a scheme for. a radical reform of tile public finances of Germany. providing for (a) the balancing of the Budget: (b) in tile event of the Governments represented on the commission assenting, for an eventual reduction of the external charges of Germany to an extent regarded as necessary for the reparation of the country; (c) for monetary reform: and (d) for the issue of internal and external loans with a view to the consolidation of the financial situation.

“Second, that in view of the lime necessary for the preparation of the execution of the measures mentioned above, the commission will accept, in payment of the cash payments due on August 15 and September 15 i and unless other arrangements are subsequently made, for the payments due on October 15 and December 31 German six months’ Treasury bills backed by guarantees upon which the German Government, and the Belgian Government, lo which the payments have been assigned, must, agree. Or in default of such agreement backed ■ by guarantees, 'by means of a deposit "of gold in a foreign bank acceptable to Belgium.” Sir John Bradbury, interviewed, said the decision gave Germany a respite from the cash payments for 1922, provided she found suitable guarantees for her Treasury bills. An alternative arrangement in default of the guarantees was the earmarking of about £1 1,000.000 of the Reichsbank’s gold,, which Sir/John- Bradbury considered was undesirable, on the ground that it meant pledging a portion of the gold reserve in the Reichsbank, which was an imporlant factor in the interests of German credit. Sir John Bradbury hoped an arrangement would be reached for guaranteeing the bills. He added that the entire 'question of future payments, especially those of 1923, remained to be considered.