BRITAIN’S DEBT.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1923, Page 1

BRITAIN’S DEBT.

TO UNITED STATES. t AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. WASHINGTON, Jan 8. Air Baldwin (England), in a speech at the' opening of the Debt Funding Commission, declared: AVc have conic to express the intention of repaying our debt. It is our way to pay as we go. So far as wo can. From that fixed principle, we have no intention to depart. Our total annual per capita taxation is still greater than that of any other people. It amounts t i more than 160 dollars per head of the population. Further taxation would decrease the purchasing power of the British working man, and reduce our consumption of American products. There would be a diminished export for American cereals, cotton, meats, and other products. Desirous as wo are of maintaining the social scab, ol our workers, the effect of additional taxation would inevitably depress ii. From the consequences of that, ( do not seo how America can escape. The social position of the American working man has been raised to its present level in some measure as a result of the. war. It is now the highest in the world; but if we are unable to buy from you .if we are forced by stern necessity to economise still further. and to buy from you only those tilings which we must have, but in greatly reduced quantities, tlie American working man will Icel the pinch. He likewise will he compelled to economise, lie will have to do with less, lie will lie brought down to a lower level ('I living. The payment M our dr lit to you will impose upon us tli" necessity uf levying heavy taxes to meet the--payment's. Feinting out that Britain had maiL-

: r<;it sacrifices to balance lmr budsjct, Mi 1 iialdwin declared: “AYo wore a fleet eel by a It rrible cnonom ir- .jtua- [ inn iii Ihiropc, and wore passing 11,miicli tilt* worst period of unemployment in our history. Having regard to all these eireuinstanees. tin* British i bus rn Hit'll I has to consider very carofully tile terms nt the li(|Uidal ion oi thr-'tic-lit:. lest tin* annual obligation lie such as it might- be impossible lor 1 Wit :i in to nii'i't in years of bad trade and falling revenue, in common uiih (he rest of the worltl. we liave wait lied with admiration tin openhamleti charity fit America to the stricken rie.s of Ktiropo. The generosity of America is proverbial, bet we art not here to ask favours, or impose upon American generosity. We ".’ant melt terms as will produce the least possible disturbance in the trade ml a I

tions (if the two countries—a fair business settlement—a square deal—a settlement that will secure for America the repayment, to the last cent of those credits which the "United States Government has established in America for us in her asociation in the war. I wish to approach this discussion a s a business man, seeking a business solution of what is, fundamentally, a business problem. Wo intend to pay. But how best can international credits be made liquid, when the credit nations are unwilling to be put in the her products to the debtor nation interrupted, and when the debtor nations ar eumvilling to be put in the position of being unable to buy the products of the creditor nation? A prompt agreement between the two great democracies of the world on tins question will he a long step towards a solution of Europe’s economic trouble. But unless this problem is .solved, there can he no general revival of international trade.