Commonwealth Ministers Seek Solution To Sterling-Dollar Deadlock

Chronicle (Levin), 14 July 1949, Page 7

Commonwealth Ministers Seek Solution To Sterling-Dollar Deadlock

Received Thursday, 10.5 a.m. LODDON, July 13. The Finance Ministers of ten Commonwealth countries, 1 starting their vital talks in London on the sterling-dollar deadlock, today examined long term and fundamental questions' of policy. On Friday the delegations Will get down to med-j ium and short term plans to earn more dollars by increasing 1 the sterling area's exports. |

It was learned in British Treasury circies tomght that the Ministers reached a broad agreement on the conciusicms of the communique issued last Sunday after the talks between the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, the Canadian Finance Mmister, Mr. Douglas Abbott, and the Secretary of the United States Treasury, Mr. John Snyder. Inere will be another plenary session tomorrow, which will be attonded by the Minister of Fuel and Power, Mr. Hugh Gaitskili, whose presence suggests that questions of coal exports and the dollar earnmg capacity of oil in the sterling area may be discussed. Ihe Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee,

in weicoming the delegates at No. ' 10 Downing Street today, said that each country represented has its own special linancial problems, but the broad problem they were to discuss concerned the whole Commonwealth and indeed the whple world. To bring the combined wistiom and >. ..perience of all the Commonwealth countries to bear would help greatly towards a solution. He hoped the deliberations would lay the foundations for working out long-term policies. After the morning session, which lasted two hours,' the New Zeaiand Finance Minister, Mr. Nash, said: "It was a good start. We discussed what will be dealt with in subsequent sessions."