52

Houmania  carried  out  her  obligation  of  changing  the  kronen,  at  the  same
time  as  the  operation  of  changing  the  notes  issued  by  the  German  army  of  occupation, ­
  whereon  likewise  ensued  a  suplimentary  issue  of  1.463  million  lei,  the
security  for  which  is  still  in  the  hands  of  Germany,  and  also  changed  the  roubles ­
  found  in  Bessarabia  amounting  to  1.208  million,  the  security  for  which  is
completely  missing,  till  some  arrangement  is  arrived  at  with  Russia.
II
Liberation  quota
The  liberation  quota  is  a  contribution  imposed  on  the  succeeding  States  of
the  former  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy  in  the  interest  of  the  common  mass.
We  have  mentioned  the  contributions  and  the  sacrifices  made  by  Roumania  for
the  freedom  of  her  national  territories,  so  that  the  creation  of  a  fresh  contribution ­
  under  the  name  of  a  liberation  quota  »can  only  appear  as  an  injustice,
following  on  a  war  waged  for  the  triumph  of  liberty  and  justice.
In  the  same  way  we  must  not  forget,  that  at  the  time  when  this  contribution ­
  was  imposed  on  Roumania,  it  was  considered  that  the  liberation  quota
would  be  levies  out  of  the  active  balance  of  the  reparations,  and  not  out  of
today’s  passive  balance  produced  by  the  manner  the  treaties  have  been  applied.
The  liberation  quota  is  an  obligation  of  a  quite  exceptional  nature,  stipulated ­
  outside  the  treaties,  at  the  time  the  treaty  of  Saint  Germain  with  Austria
was  signed  at  a  time  when  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  treaties—(obligation ­
  of  the  enemy  to  repair  all  Rosses  integrally)  had  not  yet  suffered
any  modification.
This  obligation  is  inscribed  in  the  arrangement  of  September  10  lh  1919,
entitled  „Arrangement  concerning  the  contribution  to  the  expenses  for  the  liberation ­
  of  the  territories  of  the  former  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy",  with  the
modificatory  declaration  of  December  8  1,1  1919,  accepted  by  Roumania  on  December ­
  9 lh  1919  (Annexes  63,  64,  65,  67).
By  this  arrangement  Poland,  Boumania,  the  Serbo-Croato-Sloven  State  and
the  Tcheko-Slovak  State,  are  obliged  to  pay  under  the  title  of  a  contribution
towards  the  charges  and  the  expenses  incurred  for  the  freeing  of  their  territories ­
  a  sum  up  to  I'/g  milliard  francs  gold.  This  sum  must  be  distributed
amongst  the  above  mentioned  States,  in  conformity  with  the  norms  of  distribution ­
  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  public  debt,  but  with  the  observation  that  the
share  of  Tcheko-Slovakia  is  not  to  exceed  750  million  francs  gold.
By  a  separate  arrangement  also  of  September  10  1,1  1919  with  the  modificatory ­
  declaration  of  December  8  lh  1919  a  special  treatment  was  provided  fur
Italy  (Annex  65,  67).
The  Commission  of  Reparations  in  carrying  out  these  arrangements,  by  a
decision  in  its  sitting  of  November  4  th  1924,  fixed  the  contribution  of  each
State  towards  this  liberation  quota  as  follows  :