Note from E. Tsouderos regarding the settlement of Greece"s war debt to England.

173 Greece and shall be dealt with in accordance with the arrangements to be made hereafter by the British Government for dealing with Allied War Debts in general. (Art. B.) II In the execution of this Agreement Greece believes that many fair reasons concur why the indebtedness in respect of war material supplied in 1918 should be cancelled. These reasons were clearly set forth by M. E. Venizelos in his letter to the Rt. Hon. W. Churchill, dated the 21st of January 1925. I do not deem it advisable to trespass upon your indulgence by recurring to the same argumentation or even repeating what I myself expounded on the matter at different times during the discussions of last year. It is a fact that the Refugee problem, one of the War's terrible consequences for Greece, is exercising an adverse influence on our financial condition and that, but for that problem, our staying-power would have been greater. Owing to that problem, not only has the country concluded ( in England and America ) the well-known loan of £12,600,000 ( which has placed the country under a yearly burden of £800,000 ), but other internal loans as well, by means of which the Budget deficits have had to be covered. These loans have exceeded Dras. 2,000,000,000. And I must confess that part of last year's deficit, namely a sum of Dras. 800,000,000 still remains uncovered, constituting a pressure on the Treasury. We hope that this sum will be covered by the new taxation of the current financial year. This fair request of ours is at any rate supported by the correct meaning of Art. B of the 1918 Agreement. It is implied hereby that the will of the contracting parties was ever since that Greece should be exempted from any charge in - 2 -