The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1925. NO TIME FOR “GESTURES.”

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, 13 May 1925, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1925. NO TIME FOR “GESTURES.”

EotwilEsiaudiiig t-iio assumption on tho poi'o ox luo people ox Uio United. bta te s, lai at. 1' raneoAnierioan' war loan neg'puiauons wiioiiy concern the W ashing- ton authorities, the cold fact remains that the stiOjeoD oi war dents is. one oi overwhelming importance' lor the Jintisli nation, which at' one pi ©sent moment finds llseii in tue position oi paying* everyuody and receiving noiuing- oi wlmt it. is owed, decent reports iiom Europe indicate that wAat is called new ''gestures” pi magnanimity are purposed. It lias even been suggested that Britain should iorg'D tiie wai' debts owing her, while she pays the United b cates the stupendous amount oi iII,(KJU,UOO,Ub, with' which the people, of the Home- j land have been saddled under the; Anglo-American war debts repay- j lnent agreement. Doubtless it ; will be pointed out that Trance i not only owes money to the : United btates; she also owes' Britain £000,1)00,000 loaned hei during' the war. In order to; make Trance that loan, Britain had to obtain huge credits in the United States, wnich were given in .the form of American goods. Britain was perfectly capable of j paying her own way during the war it the U nited States had been | willing to undertake the business! of lending money to the Allies, i But this the United States did I not see its way to do. At the! peace the British people wero' owed £2,000,000,000 and owed, £1,000,000,000 (the sum whichJ they are now paying to. the: United States.). They were ready! to accept a generous and reason-! able plan—that the inter-Allied , debts should all be conceded, ; because they represented not true i commercial debts but elfort in a j common cause. By that plan j Britain would have forgiven £2 j for every £1 which it was. for- i given. The United States, how-! over, did not agreo to the proposal. The United States appears to be willing to oiler Trance considerably more favourable terms than were gran tod. to Britain in the unlucky agreement of 1923, though it lias been assumed in London that no such preference would be shown. No- other victorious nation is making such sacrifices as the British people. iN ; p other nation has been so -unselfishly generous and considerate. But Britain really has a right to ask that the minimum terms outlined by Mr Churchill on December 1(J shall be fulfilled:. “That, any payments made by our debtors in Europe to tbeir creditors in the United States should he accompanied simultaneously, pari passu, by proportionate payments to Great Britain.” Less than this means ruin to British finances and the ( grossest injustice to British tacs-! payers and British workers. The British' nation sympathises with Trance and recognises her difficulties, which Britain would not accentuate. But any other atti-1 tudo has been rendered impossible by the fact that Britain has to pay such an enormous sum to the United Let it be said at once that Britain cannot afford any “gestures.” A country which is paying taxes at the rate of £ls a iiead, more than twice as heavy as any other taxes in the world; which has I over a million unemployed; which | sees some of its greatest and I most vital industries in a critical J state, cannot give away huge sums of money. All Britain asks j the United States is that British | claims should not be overlooked, j since in such a case, it is sound I principle that no creditor has a ) right to demand priority of pay- i ment as against other creditors.