COMPLAINT OF BROKEN PLEDGES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21404, 21 February 1935, Page 9

COMPLAINT OF BROKEN PLEDGES

TO THH EDITOB OK TUB PREHS. Sir, —"Dissatisfied's" complaint of broken pledges made by the present Government, his praise of the record of the British Government, and his statement that "Her word is her bond, and her word is sacred," is surely an indication that he has not followed the events of recent years, and has not been able to recognise the fact that we are living in an ever-changing world. One would need to have only a very short memory to remember the praise bestowed on Mr Baldwin and the manager of the Bank of England when they returned some years ago, after making a contract to repay the American debt. These gentlemen are still holding high positions and evidently have the confidence of the people, yet the present British Government has repudiated that agreement. The British Government, like ours, was placed in power by the will of P e °P le an d given practically a blank cheque" to rectify the positions pf its country. The main difference is that Britain has refused to recognise the present agreement with America on the ground that she cannot pay, while New Zealand is only dealwith its internal indebtedness on the democratic principle that you cannot draw blood from a stone.— Yours, etc., February 20, 1935. E.T.G.