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Hokitika Guardian, 2 January 1923, Page 2

i llEo.utniNt: the burden of intern,■iti uuil j debts oppressing F.urope. Mr G. G. | Allen ;i writer in the Xew Void; Times : in a Into mail issue, suggests a for- ■ mull! ns as basis for discussion on which ' the settlement of iulernntionn] indeh- j tedness may become reasonably pus- i sible. The American proceeds: To illustrate the idea 1 have in mind j take the ease of Kmdand’s debt to | us: we should say to England, f ‘You ! owe 11s between four and five billions of dollars. Wo know that you recognise this debt, but we believe that j under the circumstances in which the : major portion of it was contracted, it j is only fair that we should share a part i of the burden with you. If you will ' agree to pay us in London annually j an amount equal to a certain percent- j age of your annual revenue from all j sources, hut not less than a specific | amount say $100,000,000. we will agree J to do the following things: ! (T) Apply your payments upon the j principal of vour debt. j (2) Use the entire sum so received in the purchase of securities in British enterprises not to exceed a limits ed percentage in any particular enterprise. We will not purchase your Go. t vernment bonds. 1 (31 Orgnni J c an American holding eo* i

' operation for the purpose of holding sororities so purchased and issue and sell the stock of such holding corporation to the public. (4) Cancel all past and future intorcst charges on your debt. ' By this process the British Government would he relieved of the necessity of sending any largo sums of money out of the country in payment jof her debt to us. We would ovenj tually, get hack the principal of the i debts but without interest. This loss of interest, however, would he coin- • pensnted for in a measure commonse- : rate with the prosperity of the British enterprises in which the 'American corporation had invested the proceeds of i the payments from the British Government. Wc might even go so far as to say that we would he willing to invest a percentage of those receipts in new developments of a public nal turo whore 5)0 per cent of the capital for such new developments were raised in England. England could, work out j a similar scheme with France: Fiance with Italy, and so on. T>i the case cf Germany the nations entitled to re--1 parations under the Versailles Treaty should say to her: You make payments in gold for '25 per cent of your indebtedness. the remaining 75 per cent, shall he paid to us in the manner hereinabove, set forth, to he re-in-vested in German enterprises.