FRENCH WAR DEBTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17751, 1 July 1929, Page 7

FRENCH WAR DEBTS.

LATEST NEWS

PRESSURE BY AMERICA. AN £80,000,000 DEAL. BRITAIN ALSO INTERESTED. (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) (Received July 1, 9.40 a.m.) LONDON, June 30. The French Chamber will hold a debate on the ratification of the war debts on July 9. It is recalled that shortly after the war America offered to self France all the war material the United States then had in Europe for £80,000,000, stating that if it were not sold it would either be sent to America or destroyed on the spot. France badly needed much of the material, therefore M. Koltz, the then finance minister, who is now in prison on charges of fraud, concluded what proved to be a bad bargain for France. America last month agreed to absorb this £80,000,000 into' the FrancoAmerican debt funding agreement, known as the Mellon-Berenger agreement, provided France ratified the agreement by August 1. Franco wants to see the Young plan adopted first, but America declines to wait. France also faces another complication arising from the fact that under the London agreement of July, 1926, the debt payments to Britain must not be inferior to those to America. Therefore if France pays America £80,000,000 she must pay Britain a similar amount. No doubt a way will be found out of the Impasse, but it Is not obvious at present.