We are glad to be able to record that the
immediate question at issue between Belgium and Germany as to payment on account of reparations has now been settled. The temporary break in the negotiations as to the guarantee for the six-months' bonds which Belgium had so creditably agreed to accept in lieu of the cash payments of 270 million gold marks due to her this year has been mended. On Tuesday the German Chargé d'Affaires in Brussels informed the Belgian Government that the Reichs- bank was prepared to cover the bonds with its guarantee. It is understood that the Belgian Government is perfectly satisfied by this proposal, which will allow the bonds to be discounted at a reasonable rate in the international money market. As the Times observes, "no central bank of the standing of the Reichsbank could afford to discredit itself by failing to fulfil its guarantee." The visit to London of the President of the Reichsbank at the end of last week gave rise to a crop of rumours as to the participation of the Bank of England in this guarantee. But the Times of Wednesday stated that these rumours were without foundation, though no doubt the President's visit, which synchronized with that of Sir John Bradbury, helped him thus to rescue a very promising negotiation from the failure with which it had been threatened.
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