PAY IN GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 290, 8 December 1932, Page 7

PAY IN GOLD.

ONLY ALTERNATIVE. Awkward for Britain But Better Than Default. DEPLETE RESERVES. (British Official Wireless.) (Rcceivcd 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, December 7. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, left for Paris where he will meet Mr. Ramsay. MacDonald, who arrives from Geneva. They will exchange views with the French Ministers on the debts situation in respect to the Lausanne agreement, after which Mr. Mac Donald will return to Geneva and Mr. Chamberlain to London. A Washington message states that the Secretary of State, Mr. H. L. Sthnson, lias practically completed the reply to the second British Note oil war debt payments. It will probably be delivered to the British Ambassador, Sir "Ronald Lindsay, ill a day or two. Mr. Stimson is also workinjr on the reply to the second French Nbtc. "The Times" says: "Mr. Hoover's message has finally dispelled any hope that the United States would not insist upon payment of the December 15 instalment of the British war debt.. The only alternative to payment in goods and services is to pay in gold. "This will deplete our gold reserve, depreciate gold, the price of commodities and the dollar value of the pound and close the door for a long time to any possibility of Britain's return to the gold standard. "The consequences, however, will not be so disastrous as would default. By the time the next payment is due the wliolo situation may have changed. There is every reason to. believe that the President-elect, Mr. Roosevelt, will realise, or will be driven by the pressure of events to realise, the necessity of international co-operation. "The outlook, therefore, is not completely discouraging." France on Horns of Dilemma. The "Daily Telegraph" says it is no secret that the French Prime Minister,' M. Herriot, is deeply concerned at the possibility tliat Britain and Italy may decide to pay America their war debt instalments on December 15 whereas the French Chamber of Deputies, in all probability, will decide not to pay. M. Herriot is anxious to 'know whether, if France, pays America, Britain will expect payment simultaneously from France, while if France docs not pay America will Britain still expect payment from France in order to facilitate her own payments to America in accordance with the Balfour formula? The "Daily Herald" says tlic British Prime Minister, Mr. Mac Donald, will inform M. Herriot that Britain does not expect France to resume payments. M. Herriot is threatened with defeat in the Chamber of Deputies during the war debt debate on Friday, but the visit of Mr. Mac Donald and Mr. Neville Chamberlain to Paris may save the situation.