WAR DEBTS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 32, 7 February 1931, Page 13

WAR DEBTS

MAY BE EEVISED

AMERICAN VISIT

World policy regarding gold and the payment of war debts may undergo a complete change as the result of a visit to Europe of Mr. G. L. Harrison, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, stated a London paper.at the end of November. Mr. Harrison spent three weeks iv secret conference, with the' greatest bankers of Great' Britain, France, and Germany investigating the world-tide of .industrial depression, and it is known that he has delved deeply intothe question of war debts revision. ; When he leaves for America he will have gained the views and experiences of, among others, Mr. Montague Norman, Governor of the Bank of England, M. Monet, head of the Bank of France, and Dr.' Luther, head of the German Beichsbank. i It is believed that he returns with the settled view that one of the most important needs of an industrially sick world to-day is a better gold distribution. . Linked up with the question of gold distribution is the question of international debt, to which he has devoted much of his time. He arrived in England with the knowledge that there is a growing movement in America for a revision or debt because it is ;now realised there that the huge debt payments to America prevent Europe from buying more American goods. A HANDICAP. Now he has heard in Franco that leading financiers there hold the view that gold in vaults can be a handicap instead of an asset. One early change that may follow his visit* may be , the adoption of a new policy of gold distribution. It is probable that in order to get gold into active circulation again the exchange of international credits will be stimulated. America would presumably advance credit to other nations whose gold reserves are becoming dangerously low. • Speaking at Farnhain, Mr. Philip Snowden said he believed the clouds which hovered avoutid many of our industries would soon be dissipated. "When the improvement does come I think it will come with considerable rapidity," he continued. "If we could all meet here twelve months from, to-night, I believe we should find that trade had taken the turn." Mr. Sndwdon said he wejeomed the fact that increasing attention was being paid to the effect of monetary policy upon industry. It would not be long before the League of Nations Committee issued its report on this matter. There could be no revival unless there •aonld be an assurance that we were going to have cheaper money—not only cheap short-term money, but cheap long-term interest rates also.