INTERNATIONAL DEBTS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17469, 1 June 1922, Page 13

INTERNATIONAL DEBTS.

IjggKT BY BONDS. | 01 USEFUL SUGGESTION. m? own correspondent.) I LONDON. April 21. ajfed Debts and German was the subject p»by Mr F. C- Gocdenough, 0d Barclay's Bank, at the p Chamber of Commerce in | fjwtwidcrable wisdom and tact, yKtomgh declined to enter into taction of equity or sentiment jJpriT to these debts, but taking itejranted, he endeavoured to ifepmiae effect lively to be pro{vm the international finances ink Common sense, he said, (rf that the burden to be imposed m people or nation, even those Ib£w* committed the greatimul thoold not be greater than tw «He to bear, or such at) Bndnee them to atoo low standIfrjM. Such a condition might »a country not only the incenW abo the abuity to compete b with the rest of the world, .then was a limit to the extent be* the standard of living could •doted, and if Germany, or any r eemtry, was towed to accept Nria of debt wbca was greater I might be put tion as to bears and to the ard of living ipatible with a oiind currency, ief danger to :ompetition for could supply ;o herself, and he problem of together with enaiatibn paysceeiire. He that France >wn. She was i than all, she lusion that it interest that was no longBritain to the sadv lent to Great Britain a unnecessary d one pennytates or Amepegition than ied countries, this debt of debts in full, curred on bewe played in ' the common t of the probovernment iufcial debt, or i have to take from an 'im-

made in as short a time as possible. As soon as was practicable, the amount to be paid by each debtor nation should be finally decided in order that all uncertainty might be removed, and an end put to the constant and disturbing negotiations which had been such a feature of the German reparations. It would then, he thought, be better that bonds should be created to represent the amount of the debt, and that these should be gradually offered to the public for investment, supported by national guarantees. For instance, u France were paying a portion of her debt to us, she could endorse certain of her Reparation Bonds to us for this purpose. Wc, in our turn, could endorse them to America in discharge of our debt to her. America would thus have a Reparation Bond, endorsed by both France and England, and, providing the amount fixed for Germany to pay were a practicable sum, the contingent liability would not be a matter for serious concern. Nevertheless, the endorsements would be upon the bond, and in consequence it would find a ready market anywhere. In this way investors throughout the whole world would become purchasers and carry the securities until they became due. The securities would pass from hand to hand like pre-war investments of an international character, and they would find a home wherever there were surplus funds seeking investment. In tfte case of Germany and other debtor countries, sinking funds should under international agreement be provided compulsorily from taxation, in the currency of the country concerned and that country could then gradually purchase its own bonds, which it could hold until maturity or could cancel them as might seem desirable.