WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

APPENDIX D
SUMMARY OF REPORT OF LORD MILNER's COMMITTEE ON
ECONOMIC DESIDERATA IN TERMS OF PEACE
The findings of the Committee were set out under the following
seven heads:
1. Paris Resolutions.
2. Control of Imperial Resources.
3. Renewal of Treaties.
4. Indemnities.
5. Settlement of private claims arising out of the War.
6. The League of Nations.
7. The Freedom of the Seas.
The Committee held that the Paris Resolutions were no
longer applicable to the situation, but they commended
that feature in them which supported a refusal to grant
the enemy countries a renewal of most-favoured-nation treatment
when making peace. The peace terms should impose
no limits on the freedom of the governments within the
Empire to develop their natural resources for national purposes.
No general renewal of pre-War treaties and conventions
with the enemy Powers should be made.
On indemnities the Committee felt unable to prophesy
just how much we could hope to get. Indemnities in kind
would probably be more practical than money, though this
also should be exacted as far as feasible. Shipping, railway
material and natural products like potash, the last over a
period of years, might be claimed; and money payments
should also be spread over some years.
"The greatest difficulty connected with an indemnity is
to determine which are the parties possessing the strongest
claim to the benefit of it, having regard to the fact that even
all justified claims cannot possibly be satisfied." Belgium