BRITAIN'S DEBT TO U.S.A.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 14

BRITAIN'S DEBT TO U.S.A.

The British-American war debt situation, as reported in the "Star," is not exactly one of the bright lights in world affairs. Britain, one gathers, is prepared to discuss the debt at some future time, when conditions arc more favourable. But that complacent-looking gentleman, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of (lie Kxchcquer, has been "telling the world" in the Press and at the microphone about Britain's balanced Budgets and almost 100 per cent return to prosperity. This Cabinet Minister, in his frequent "prosperity" broadcasts, never mentioned the two skeletons in the British national cupboard, namely, 2,000,000 unemployed and a huge unpaid war debt, the latter being for goods received and services rendered, without which the war could not have been successfully carried 011 by the Allies. Is Britain's return to prosperity fact or propaganda? If fact, then it begins to look like a case of repudiation masquerading as "default." The other day, in the New Zealand Parliament, the Government was warned about keeping its credit good and making prompt payments of interest on its London debts. "Remember what happened to the Irish Free State," said one of the champions of London's money magnates. Quite so, but Britain, so it seems to me, when dealing with small-fry debtors, has never failed to have the economic big stick handy under the table. War debt discussions reveal Britain in a Jekyll and Hyde role. J.G.