v REPARATION 123
damage. 1 In view of the very inadequate data forguessing at more than the general magnitude of thelegitimate claims of this group of countries, I preferto make one guess rather than several and to putthe figure for the whole group at the round sum of£250,000,000.
We are finally left with the following—
Million £.
Great Britain . . . . .570Other Allies..... 250
Total . £2120 million.
I need not impress on the reader that there ismuch guesswork in the above, and the figure forFrance in particular is likely to be criticised. ButI feel some confidence that the general magnitude,as distinct from the precise figures, is not hopelesslyerroneous; and this may be expressed by the state-ment that a claim against Germany, based on theinterpretation of the pre-Armistice engagements ofthe Allied Powers which is adopted above, wouldassuredly be found to exceed £1600 million and tofall short of £3000 million.
This is the amount of the claim which we were
1 Very large claims put forward by the Serbian authorities includemany hypothetical items of indirect and non-material damage ; but these,however real, are not admissible under our present formula.
2 Assuming that in her case £250 million are included for the generalexpenses of the war defrayed out of loans made to Belgium by her allies.