21 JANUARY 1922, Page 2

Lord Derby went on to speak of the Franco-British alliance.

He agreed with the French people that the alliance ought not to be made part of a bargain in connexion with other matters. It should be treated apart from everything else. If the alliance had existed in the first instance, we should have been spared many of the present difficulties, such as the controversy over submarines. Lord Derby confessed that he disliked the methods of the conferences. He would prefer that subordinates should do the preliminary. work, leaving the final word to the heads of Governments. He pointed out that France needed the money owing by Germany in order to restoreJner devastated provinces. The only difference between us and France concerned the method by which reparation was to be made.