2. The proportion of the purchases to be made by each country will be determined by agreement.
3. The purchases will be made at the discretion of and in the manner preferred by each Government.
4. These amounts of silver will be devoted in each country to the monetary uses authorised by the legislation of that state, and the silver will be either coined or made the guarantee for an issue of ordinary or special notes, as Government may think fit.
5. The arrangement will be made for five years. The obligatory purchase of silver will be suspended should the metal reach in the London market a price determined by agreement between the Governments. The purchases may be renewed, if the delegates of the different countries interested should agree upon the fixing of a new limit of price. They should be renewed in any case if the price falls below the original limit.
With regard to the Soetbeer plan it was abandoned in committee, while the Levy plan was drawn up in the following terms:—
"1. The withdrawal from circulation within a period of ... of gold coins containing a weight of less than 5.806 grms. of fine gold (20-franc pieces).
"2. The withdrawal of notes of a less value than
the coin of 20 francs or its equivalent, an exception being made of notes representing a deposit of silver."
The manner of adopting and recommending these schemes to the conference from the committee was peculiar. The British delegate, Sir C. Fremantle, declared that he could not entertain the "Levy" except in conjunction with the "Rothschild" scheme, and while recommending the latter to the conference for discussion, the states of the Latin Union declared that even if passed, they could not recommend the plan to their Governments.
At the fourth session M. Boissevain declared that there were insurmountable obstacles to its adoption by the Government of the Netherlands. General Strachey said that unless it received more favour than was indicated by the report, he would be unable to support it. Mr. Allard, one of the Belgian delegates, declared that it was insufficient, and Sir Rivers Wilson declared, on behalf of himself and Sir Charles Fremantle, that recognising that this want of support would prevent them from recommending the plan to their Government, they would refrain from taking part in a detailed discussion of it, although they did not consider it inconsistent with the monometallist opinions which they held. Mr. M'Creary (delegate for the United States), then stated that he did not consider M. de Rothschild's proposal, as it stood, equitable to the United States, and therefore that he would be unable to support it.