The embargo imposed by the Government on payment by the
banks of Czech holdings in London was a sound and necessary move, but it seems to have had the effect of reducing a number of perfectly well-to-do Czech residents in this country to the level, financially, of refugees. A clearing arrangement is obviously needed. The situation is rather like that created in 1917, when the Russian Empire fell. Certain London banks, I am told, held considerable balances on behalf of various Russian banks and corporations. All the latter were abolished by the Soviet Government, and therefore could not claim the funds, nor could the Soviet Government itself, because the total balance of payments was in favour of this country. Various creditors of the defunct corporations have tried to get reimbursed from the balances in question, but all but a trifling percentage failed, and now the statute of limitations has barred all further claims. Whose, therefore, is the money? Is it just a wind- fall for the banks? There seems no other answer.
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