24 MAY 1930, Page 2

The Young Plan Last Saturday the Reparation Commission held Its

fineil meeting and handed over its charge to the Bank for International Settlements. On the same day the Order was given for the, Withdrawal of the French Army, of Occupation. The Young Plan then came into force. The only remaining difficulties had been removed by the waiving of the Americans' request that their prior claim to reparations should be acknowledged, and by leaving to arbitration the question whether the last annual payments should be unconditional. That this satisfactory solution was not reached without some difficulty is shown by a recent article in the Matin, by M. Jules Sauerwein, and by subsequent comments. M. Sauerwein accused Great Britain of an attempt to " torpedo " the new Bank, alleging;among other reasons, her jealousy because only a small portion of the new loan is to be floated in London. The quality of his reasoning is admirably indicated by the well-known fact that the part floated in London is small merely because of the British stipulation that it should not exceed the British share in the proceeds of • the loan. The French consistently argued against this arrangement, since they are anxious that the triangular gold drain, London-Berlin-Paris, should continue.

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