Job for Experts

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 490, 20 October 1928, Page 9

Job for Experts

REPARATIONS PROBLEM Six-Power Conference

British Official Wireless Received Noon. RUGBY, Friday. THE newspapers attach considerable importance to tile visit to London which Mr. Parker Gilbert, Agent-General for German Reparation Payments, has just concluded, and during which he has had conversations with the Prime Minister,- Mr. Winston Churchill, and officials of the Treasury and the Bank of England.

The agreement reached at Geneva on September 16, t between Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Japan, on the necessity tor a complete settlement of the reparations problem, and for the constitution for this purpose of a committee of financial experts, has raised a number of problems, in regard to which Mr. Gilbert has found it necessary to consult the Governments chiefly concerned, and from London he proceeded to Paris and Berlin. Before the proposed committee of experts can be formed and discussions proceeded with, questions of principle have to be eradicated, and it is believed that Mr. Gilbert’s London visit has been useful in this respect. BUSY AGENT-GENERAL MR. GILBERT IN PARIS (Australian and. N.Z. Press Association) Reed. noon. PARIS, Friday. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Winston Churchill, conferred for 70 minutes with M. Poincare and Mr. Parker Gilbert. A communique, says they discussed the constitution of the committee of experts foreshadowed at Geneva. The Governments concerned will continue to exchange views. Mr. Gilbert has recently been considering schemes for a reduction of reparations, which Germany will voluntarily agree to pay. He visited London and conferred with Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Churchill, and later he will visit Rome and Berlin. AMERICA HOLDS ALOOF REPARATIONS CONFERENCE “PURELY EUROPEAN" (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.35 a.m. WASHINGTON, Fri. It is learned in authoritative quarters that if the United States is repre-

seated at the forthcoming Reparations Conference, it will only be through the attendance of American bankers in a private capacity. Moreover, under no circumstances will the Government itself partake even indirectly in the projected sixPower discussions nor stand committed by any action taken by the unofficial American delegates. Officials further stated that no requests from the European Powers concerned or from the United States bankers regarding American representation has yet reached the State Department. Until such a request is received, and the Government course of action definitely decided upon, there will be no formal announcement regarding the policy to be pursued concerning the contemplated readjustment of the Dawes plan; but it is again made clear that the conference cannot deal with American war debt agreements, thereby tending to confine the discussions wholly to reparations, which the American Government considers to be purely a European question. AMERICAN FINANCIER J. P. MORGAN IN PARIS SIGNIFICANT VISIT (Australian and y.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Reed. 1.3 p.m. LONDON, Friday. Mr. John Pierpont Morgan, head of the firm of J. P. Morgan and Go., New York financiers, whose presence in Paris was unknown outside a small circle, attended a lunch at the British Embassy with Mr. Churchill and Mr. Gilbert. It is understood that M. Poincare, Mr. Churchill and Mr. Gilbert have agreed that it is advisable to invite the United States to appoint a representative upon the Reparations Experts’ Committee. Mr. Gilbert strongly favours an early fixation and commercialisation of the German debt, but marketing of this depends primarily upon the United States. Mr. Morgan’s presence at the lunch was therefore significant.