with the six months' prohibition of fabrication and importation of any air material, whether its character be military, naval or civil. The Principal Allied and Associated Powers do not pretend that the existence in Germany of routes for air Navigation, will be impossible after the going into force of the Treaty. The existence of such routes may be admitted, and these routes may be utilized by: 1. Any aircraft, the civil nature of which shall have been thoroughly verified by the Interallied Air Commission of Control. 2. Any aircraft of non-military type which may be imported or constructed in Germany, after the expiration of the period of six months provided for by Article 201. Concerning the neutral zone, the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, shall only have to see that Article 43 is not violated. They do not lay down, as a principle, that no landing fields for the civil air circulation, should not [sic] be established in the said zone, but it is obvious that the creation of landing fields might give rise to a state of things inconsistent with the strict execution of the clauses of Article 43. In consequence, the Principal Allied and Associated Powers have a right to see that the Commissions on the Establishment and Upkeep of landing fields be of such a nature, as to assure the execution of the stipulations of the Peace Treaty. Appendix J to HD-122 Note Relative to the Polish Protest Against the Declaration Tending To Modify the Financial Arrangement No reason has been given by Poland in explanation of her protest, which rather indicates a certain susceptibility of pride. It is, furthermore, rather difficult to understand this protest considering that the modification, brought about by the Declaration of December 8,1 in reality creates a more advantageous situation for Poland than resulted from the original Arrangement. 14 In fact, supposing that in Poland's case the liberation debt is greater than the Reparations credit:-The modification does not alter the conditions established by the original Arrangement. There is compensation between the credit and the debt, and the issuing of bonds to cover the debit balance. Supposing the reparations credits to be greater than the liberation debt: According to the original Arrangement, Poland would pay off her debt by means of immediate compensation from her credits, but "See HD-107, minute 1, and appendix A, pp. 472 and 479. would not be allowed to receive anything from the credit account, as long as the other credit States had not themselves received sums corresponding to the amount already received by Poland in compensation. According to the modification, no compensation is to be effected between the reparations credit which is to remain untouched, and which allows Poland to immediately receive successive payments from this fund, on one hand,—and, on the other hand, the liberation debt, which Poland is to pay off by issuing bonds which will not be redeemable or interest-bearing until after periods of five and ten years. Until the expiration of these five and ten year periods, the share of Poland in the reparations is unencumbered; after these five and ten year periods, this share will be encumbered by an impost for the payment of the interest and the amortization of the bonds. Poland's position appears more favorable under the new system than under the original system. In the opinion of the Drafting Committee, the best course to be taken would be, to induce Poland to withdraw her protest and agree to sign the Arrangement, by again presenting the Polish Delegation with the explanations which she has probably misunderstood. In case Poland should persist in her refusal to sign, the consequences do not seem to be very important. Of course, in that case, the modification cannot be imposed on Poland. However, nothing prevents the application of the original system in the settlement of the Polish credit and debt, and, at the same time, the application of the new system in the settlement of the credits and debts of the other new States. The only difficulty which would result, would be, primarily, a certain material complication in the accounts, and secondly, an eventual abbreviation of the period, during which the Polish credit balance will have to wait for its settlement, because the other new States, by receiving their part of the reparations from the commencement would have thus hastened the proportional exhaustion of their credits proportionately with the Polish compensation. For the Drafting Committee: HENRI FROMAGEOT JANUARY 3, 1920. POLISH DELEGATION TO THE PEACE CONFERENCE Appendix K to HD-122 PARIS, December 19, 1919. To: The Secretary-General of the Peace Conference. From: The Polish Delegation. After having learned the reasons for the modification of the Arrangement of September 10th regarding the contribution towards the costs of liberation of the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy,15 and considering that the modifications proposed do not correspond to the interests of Poland, the Polish Delegation has the honor to solicit that, as far as Poland is concerned, the Arrangement which she signed, together with the Allied and Associated Powers, September 10, 1919, be maintained. The Polish Delegation at the same time takes the liberty of expressing its keen regret that it did not have the opportunity to present, at an earlier date, its point of view in this respect. Please accept, etc. [No signature on file copy] 15 Appendix I to HD-37, vol. vII, p. 830. Paris Peace Conf. 180.08501/123 HD-123 Notes of a Meeting of the Heads of Delegations of the Five Great Powers Held in M. Pichon's Room, Quai d'Orsay, Paris, Tuesday, January 6, 1920 at 10:30 a. m. The following were also present for items in which they were concerned: GREAT BRITAIN Mr. Millington Drake Gen. Sackville-West FRANCE Gen. Weygand Adl. Levavasseur M. Laroche M. Kammerer M. Hermite ITALY Gen. Cavallero Vice-Adl. Grassi JAPAN M. Sawada GENERAL LE ROND told the Council that in the course of conversations he had had with Mr. von Simson the latter recalled that the German delegation in a note of 28 October last had raised the ques State of the Ne- tion of the revision of the German-Polish frontier but that no reply had so far been made to their communication. He had replied that the German note amounted to nothing less than raising the whole question of the treaty of Versailles and that, he considered, could not be countenanced by the Allied Governments. Mr. von Simson had then said that he would take note of the comment but that the German delegation were none the less anxious to have a written reply in order to justify themselves in the eyes of the local population who had insisted upon the German Government's obtaining some modification of the treaty. In those circumstances he had prepared a draft reply which had been submitted to Mr. Fromageot and which he would read to the Council. General Le Rond then read the document which appears as Appendix A. It was decided: to adopt the draft letter to the German delegation proposed by General Le Rond. (Appendix A.) GENERAL LE ROND said that the German delegates had also recalled that in a letter of 5 November last they had asked that a certain limited territory, situated in the southwest of Upper Silesia and which, according to the treaty of peace, ought to go to CzechoSlovakia, might be allocated to Upper Silesia and allowed to share the same fate as the plebiscite accorded to that province. He had confined his reply in that case also to saying that no modification of the Treaty of Versailles could possibly be considered. Mr. von Simson was satisfied with the reply and insisted only that it be communicated to him in writing. Nevertheless Mr. von Simson's request emphasized the necessity of an understanding between the Germans and the Czecho-Slovaks if the evacuation of that territory by the Germans and its handing over to Czecho-Slovakia were to be assured. He had advised the Czecho-Slovak Delegation about that situation in order that it might take steps to be represented for that question in the negotiations actually taking place. A draft statute for the territories of Memel and Dantzig was to be submitted to the Council that very day. It had been prepared by the Commissions of Polish and of Baltic Affairs in joint session. It might be well if a sub-commission comprising two or three members of those Commissions would be good enough to take part in the negotiations that were going on. That proposal was adopted. |