REPARATIONS PROBLEM.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15979, 6 May 1924, Page 5

REPARATIONS PROBLEM.

BELGIAN MINISTER’S VIEW. GOODWILL INDISPENSABLE. ALLIES IN AGREEMENT. (Times.) Received Mav 6. 11.30 a.m ’ LONDON, May 5. The Times’ Ostend correspondent says that although an Allied agreement has not yet been reached with regard to ihe application of the experts’ proposals, progress is undoubtedly being made in connection therewith. The conferences which M.M. Theunis and Ilyams have had with M. Poincare and Mr Ramsay MacDonald seem to have done much to clear the air. The Belgian Ministers have arrived at Ostend this afternoon from London. M. Theunis said: “We discussed the broad lines of the reparation problem in the light of the experts’ plan. It is indispensable that there should be goodwill, and it is evident that Mr MacDonald is animated by an undeniable desire to reach an agreement. He does not conceal his sympathies with France. We return favourably impressed.”

M. Hyams, when asked if an interAllied Conference may be looked for in the near future, replied: “That is a difficult question to answer. There is certainly an Allied agreement at the moment, and judging by the conversations I have had, such conference may be nearer than many think.”

Both Ministers declared that strict secrecy with regard to what transpired at Chequers was most essential in the interests' of Allied unity.