Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/174

 Government for the port of Alexandria are not to he disposed of until after the entire payment of the amount of 704,000l. due on 1st January, 1877 to the contractors of the port.

— Amortization.

VI. The operation of redeeming the bonds will be carried out by the Commissioners of the Treasury of the Public Debt. In order to increase the amount available for redemption, a deduction will be made of one-seventh of the interest of 7 per cent, which is assigned to the service of this debt, viz. : — 1 per cent, on the capital remaining to be redeemed at the beginning of each year.

The fund yielded by this deduction will be added to the sums available from the Moukabalah, and will be also employed in redeeming bonds by means of public purchases, subject to the reservation mentioned hereafter, in case of public purchases not being made.

This deduction, however, will only be made to the end of the year 1885 at the latest, and if before that date the unified debt is reduced to 40,000,000l. sterling, payment of interest at 7 per cent, will be resumed from that moment.

The funds yielded by the Moukabalah will be paid in their entirety to the Commissioners of the Public Debt, to whom the service of redemption is confided ('service d'amoitissement'). The Commissioners of the Treasury of the Public Debt will take out of the funds paid to them the sum necessary for the redemption of the 1864, 1865, and 1867 Loans, and they will devote the available balance to the redemption of the general unified debt.

In the event that after the service of the Public Debt shall have been provided for the revenues should be insufficient to meet the estimated budget expenses of the Government, such as they are fixed in the table annexed to the present Decree, the Finance Committee, composed of the Minister of Finance and the two Controllers-General, will give notice thereof to the Commissioners of the Public Debt. The latter will then keep back out of the available funds yielded by