Note to IX, 256—Continued

The rolling stock assigned to Belgium was regarded as accessory to the railroads situated in Eupen and Malmédy, and consequently Belgium was not called on to pay for it.

ARTICLE 257.

In the case of the former German territories, including colonies, protectorates or dependencies, administered by a Mandatory under Article 22 of Part I (League of Nations) of the present Treaty, neither the territory nor the Mandatory Power shall be charged with any portion of the debt of the German Empire or States.

All property and possessions belonging to the German Empire or to the German States situated in such territories shall be transferred with the territories to the Mandatory Power in its capacity as such and no payment shall be made nor any credit given to those Governments in consideration of this transfer.

For the purposes of this Article the property and possessions of the German Empire and of the German States shall be deemed to include all the property of the Crown, the Empire or the States and the private property of the former German Emperor and other Royal personages.

ARTICLE 258.

Germany renounces all rights accorded to her or her nationals by treaties, conventions or agreements, of whatsoever kind, to representation upon or participation in the control or administration of commissions, state banks, agencies or other financial or economic organisations of an international character, exercising powers of control or administration, and operating in any of the Allied or Associated States, or in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, or in the dependencies of these States, or in the former Russian Empire.

ARTICLE 259.

(1) Germany agrees to deliver within one month from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty, to such authority as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate, the sum in gold which was to be deposited in the Reichsbank in the name of the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt as security for the first issue of Turkish Government currency

notes.

Text of May 7:

(1) Germany agrees to deliver within one month from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty, to such authority as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate, the sum in gold deposited in the Reichsbank in the name of the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt as security for the first issue of Turkish Government currency notes.

Note to IX, 259 (1)

A sum of 57,919,687.34 gold marks was transferred for the joint account of the Allied and Associated Powers by Germany on February 11, 1921. The original security was 80,000,000 gold marks of which 74,792,869.92 was actually deposited. The administration of the Ottoman Public Debt drew 16,873,182.58 gold marks between September 1916 and November 1918.

The Reparation Commission transferred the joint account to the Evaluation Commission instituted by the treaty of peace with Turkey, signed at Lausanne July 24, 1923.

(2) Germany recognises her obligation to make annually for the period of twelve years the payments in gold for which provision is made in the German Treasury Bonds deposited by her from time to time in the name of the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt as security for the second and subsequent issues of Turkish Government currency notes.

Note to IX, 259 (2)

The Reparation Commission notified the Kriegslastenkommission on May 24, 1922 that no payment could be made under this provision without its sanction.

(3) Germany undertakes to deliver, within one month from the coming into force of the present Treaty, to such authority as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate, the gold deposit constituted in the Reichsbank or elsewhere, representing the residue of the advance in gold agreed to on May 5, 1915, by the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt to the Imperial Ottoman Government.

Text of May 7:

(3) Germany undertakes to deliver, within one month from the coming into force of the present Treaty, to such authority as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may designate, the sum deposited in gold in the Reichsbank, representing the residue of the advance in gold agreed to on the 5th May, 1915, by the Council of the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt to the Imperial Ottoman Government.

Note to IX, 259 (3)

A sum of £T 51,378 gold and 33.371⁄2 silver piasters, representing the residue on June 28, 1919 of an advance of £T 400,000 granted on May 5, 1915 by the Council of Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt to the Imperial Ottoman Government, was transferred for joint account of Allied and Associated Powers by the Reichsbank on January 25, 1921. On September 6, 1921, in pursuance of a resolution of the Conference of Ambassadors, the sum deposited was transferred to the Council of Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt in view of article 254 of the treaty of peace with Turkey.

(4) Germany agrees to transfer to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers any title that she may have to the sum in gold and silver transmitted by her to the Turkish Ministry of Finance in November, 1918, in anticipation of the payment to be made in May, 1919, for the service of the Turkish Internal Loan.

(5) Germany undertakes to transfer to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, within a period of one month from the coming into force of the present Treaty, any sums in gold transferred as pledge or as collateral security to the German Government or its nationals in connection with loans made by them to the AustroHungarian Government.

Note to IX, 259 (4-5)

The Reparation Commission took no action on these two provisions.

(6) Without prejudice to Article 292 of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, Germany confirms the renunciation provided for in Article XV of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, of any benefit disclosed by the Treaties of Bucharest and of Brest-Litovsk and by the treaties supplementary thereto.

Germany undertakes to transfer, either to Roumania or to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers as the case may be, all monetary instruments, specie, securities and negotiable instruments, or goods, which she has received under the aforesaid Treaties.

Note to IX, 259 (6)

Russia under the treaty of Brest-Litovsk transferred to Germany 93,596 kilograms of gold representing about 320,000,000 rubles; this gold was deposited for the joint account of the Allied and Associated Powers by Germany in December 1918.

A claim by the Rumanian Government for restitution by Germany of 2,673,000,000 marks representing bank notes issued by Germany

Note to IX, 259 (6)—Continued

in Rumania during the occupation was held by the Reparation Commission not to fall under article 259.

(7) The sums of money and all securities, instruments and goods of whatsoever nature, to be delivered, paid and transferred under the provisions of this Article, shall be disposed of by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers in a manner hereafter to be determined by those Powers.

ARTICLE 260.

Without prejudice to the renunciation of any rights by Germany on behalf of herself or of her nationals in the other provisions of the present Treaty, the Reparation Commission may within one year from the coming into force of the present Treaty demand that the German Government become possessed of any rights and interests of German nationals in any public utility undertaking or in any concession operating in Russia, China, Turkey, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, or in the possessions or dependencies of these States or in any territory formerly belonging to Germany or her allies, to be ceded by Germany or her allies to any Power or to be administered by a Mandatory under the present Treaty, and may require that the German Government transfer, within six months of the date of demand, all such rights and interests and any similar rights and interests the German Government may itself possess to the Reparation Commission.

Germany shall be responsible for indemnifying her nationals so dispossessed, and the Reparation Commission shall credit Germany, on account of sums due for reparation, with such sums in respect of the value of the transferred rights and interests as may be assessed by the Reparation Commission, and the German Government shall, within six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, communicate to the Reparation Commission all such rights and interests, whether already granted, contingent or not yet exercised, and shall renounce on behalf of itself and its nationals in favour of the Allied and Associated Powers all such rights and interests which have not been so communicated.

Note to IX, 260

The Reparation Commission on February 23, 1920 requested the German Government to supply a list of the rights and interests referred to in this article. The lists were submitted in July, August,

Note to IX, 260—Continued

and November on a much narrower interpretation of the article than the commission held. Pending arbitration on this point, the commission on January 7, 1921 called upon the German Government to sequestrate all rights and interests mentioned in the lists already transmitted, and later asked for further lists to be prepared by August.

Delivery of the securities called for began in September 1921 and continued through October 1922. All told, securities to the number of 1,395,233 were delivered and committed to the custody of British, French, Italian, and Belgian banks for realization.

The Reparation Commission on April 27, 1921 defined the word "concessions" as meaning "an agricultural, mining, industrial, commercial, or generally any economic right which has been granted either by a special legislative measure or by an act, in principle discretionary, of the executive authorities and which, therefore, does not result merely from the operation of the general law."

"Rights and interests" were designated by the Reparation Commission as including shares, or partnerships; bonds; debentures; secured debts, or debts carrying a right of control.

The terms of this article raised a number of questions of interpretation, particularly with respect to the scope of the word "concession" and the phrase "public utilities undertaking". The Reparation Commission entered into an agreement with the German Government to submit this and other questions raised in applying the article to the arbitration of Frederik Beichmann, president of the Court of Appeal, Trondhjem, Norway. The award of September 3, 1924 was accepted by the Reparation Commission which on June 31, 1925 concluded with Germany a protocol for the application of article 260.

The award of September 3, 1924 gave careful definitions of the

terms:

"Public utility undertaking" comprises railroads of general and local interest, including tramways, and canals if they are subject to use by the general public, enterprises for the distribution of water, gas or electric current if they supply an area not too limited, or the general public; and does not comprise mining enterprises, such as those for coal, iron or copper, and those for extraction of petroleum or analogous substances, and the private schools in the Near East.