THE BRITISH DEBT

Hokitika Guardian, 28 January 1933, Page 5

THE BRITISH DEBT

TO UNITED STATES

THE METHOD OF SETTLEMENT.

(United Press Asso iation —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.)

LONDON, January 27

The “Daily. Herald’s" city L ditor says : It is pretty certain that any ■settlement with the United States mu*’! be in the fmm of a capital payment. It is clear that in all future payments of the war debt account, --on the basic' of the Lausanne Settlement, the British debt to the United States wouM be funded at about sixty million in gold, but such a stun js obvious.y too low to b e acceptable. “On the contrary, it could b e argueu that a capital .sum equalling ten years' purchase of the loan instalment might be reasonable. Thi s would mean a capital payment of 360 million in gold or 470 million in sterling, but it is essential that it shall be raised in the form of a loan in the United States ; as otherwise it would be impossible to transfer the money.

“It is unlikely that- such a loan could be successfully issued at New York.. A more reasonable figure is 325 million (sterling, which might be raised in New York at four per cent., which would mean the payment of thirteen million sterling in interest annually. “The Times" say- 5 : It will not be easy, between now and M al 'ch to bring the American public to realise that all trade is °nty a bnrter of g °° dS and services, and that money, even in the. form of gold, is merely a counter to facilitate then- exchange. Until this is realised, there is little hope of settlement. If it U realised in time, th e discussions at Washington may be a useful prelude to tne World Conference.

Referring to the gold standard «>- the annual meeting of the National Provincial Bank, th c , Chairman (Sir Harrv Goschen) emphasised tha t although sooner' or later the poimci must be anchored to a *olid ruundntion one thin? certain was that no move in the direction of stabilisation should be attempted until such (safeguards wer. e . devised as would, humanly speaking, prevent a recurs., C e “ the events of 1931. He gave figures indicating that the decline in the British export tr.ad e . bad been small, compared with that of other Countries. The British declin e wa, s 6.9 per cent., American 35.7 per c&nt., Gorman 41 per cent., and French 31 per cent.

WORLD ECONOMIC CONFERENCEGENEVA, January £5. The World Economic preparatory Committee found it impossible to fix a date for the meeting earlier than the .end of May, owing to the time necessary to post the documents to studied by the more remote members such as New Zealand and Australia.