3 OCTOBER 1925, Page 2

Each French offer has been met by an American proposal,

and all we know when we go to press is that M. Caillaux has not lost hope of a settlement. The Washington correspondent of the Times says that according to one report America is willing to accept £7,000,000 a year for five years thereafter rising gradually to £28,000,000 a year. M. Caillaux's latest offer is said to be £5,000,000 a year for twenty-two years and there- after £20,000,000 a year. M. Caillaux wants to furnish any arrangement that may be made with a safeguarding clause to the effect that a failure by Germany to pay reparations should involve a revision of the whole question of the French debt. ..The Times correspondent adds that there is not the faintest likelihood that America will agree to such a clause. * * *