ANOTHER DEBT SETTLEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 24, 29 January 1926, Page 6

ANOTHER DEBT SETTLEMENT.

The terms that England has accepted for the settlement of Italy's debt are instructive. England owed the j United States nearly a thousand millions sterling, and is paying it off on terms I that involve annual payments of more i than thirty millions. Italy owes lingi land about £550,000,000, but her maxii mum annual payment will be only four I and a-half millions. The term over j which payments are spread is the ?nme. i Moreover, there is a clause by which Italy will benefit if Britain's receipts from reparations and debts rise above a I certain level. Britain's policy is said to ibe not to ask for more than is being jpnid to America. That, in effect, was her policy when she proposed that all debts be cancelled. .She lent to her allies .more than she borrowed from America, I and she was prepared to shoulder the '■ balance. America, however, rejected this ' proposal, and no one knows what the end of the consequent troubles will be. The English decision about Italy may Ibo the wisest. Tt is impolitic to insist lon receiving more than a debtor can pay, and friendship with a country like Italy may be worth many millions. The fact remains, however, that it is Knjrland that is making concessions, and the j pointed comments in the English Press j are not surprising.