GUARANTEES & TRADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1939, Page 7

GUARANTEES & TRADE

EXPOSITION OF BRITISH POLICY. DEFINITE STEPS TAKEN. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 2. During the debate in the House of Lords today the Government was asked what steps were proposed to promote trade between Britain and the countries whose independence the British Government had guaranteed or might guarantee. Lord Templemore, replying for the Government, said that the Export Guarantees Act passed this year provided additional facilities amounting to £10,000,000 for transactions which it might be in the national interest to guarantee. If the proposals in respect to countries which Britain had guaranteed went beyond purely business grounds, they would have to be dealt with under that Act. Britain’s recent guarantees to certain countries would be given the fullest weight when the Government was considering the possibility of financial assistance, and in furtherance of that policy definite steps had been taken. Suggestions of Lord Sempill that Britain should accept a proportion of natural commodities in payment for British exports, and that there should be substantial credit facilities would be considered by the Board of Trade, as would the question whether a conference of leading industrialists would be possible.