If it can be assumed that any part of the special deliveries to be made under the Agreement would, in the absence of the Agreement, have been diverted to Germanyʼs ordinary external trade, then the concession desired will have the effect of diminishing the annual payments made by Germany for the benefit of the Allies as a whole.
2. Decision of the Reparation Commission on October 20, 1921, after considering the Franco–German Agreement of October 6, 1921
The French Government, having submitted to the Reparation Commission in accordance with Paragraph 3 of the Memorandum thereto attached the Agreement between the representatives of the French and German Governments signed at Wiesbaden on the 6th instant, the Commission has come to the following decision:—
(1) It entirely approves the general principles underlying the Agreement whereby special arrangements are proposed for enabling Germany to liquidate the largest possible proportion of her reparation obligations in the form of goods and services, more especially with a view to the speedier restoration of the Devastated Regions.
(2) At the same time, it considers that the Agreement involves certain departures from the provisions of Part VIII. of the Treaty of Versailles, notably Article 237, Paragraphs 12 and 19 of Annex II. and Paragraph 5 of Annex IV.
(3) As the Commission has no power to authorise such departures, it decides to refer the question to the Governments represented on the Commission, with a copy of the Memorandum and its Annex, recommending a favourable examination of them.
(4) The Commission recommends that reasonable facilities for deferred payment in respect of the exceptional volume which, if the arrangements are successful, the deliveries in kind to France are likely to assume during the next few years, should be accorded to France, subject to any safeguards which the Allied Governments may regard as necessary to protect their respective interests.
3. Concluding Recommendations of Sir John Bradburyʼs Report to the British Government (October 26, 1921)
The safeguards which are envisaged as necessary by my Italian and Belgian colleagues on the Reparation Commission and myself, and for which we presume that our respective Governments will desire to stipulate are—