WAR DEBTS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 130, 6 June 1929, Page 11

WAR DEBTS

MR. SNOWDEN'S STAND

THE BALFOUR NOTE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ' . \ "''LONCON, 25th April. ' Speaking at a Labour meeting at Maidstone last week, Mr. Philip Snowden referred to his "repudiation"' speech in. the. House of Commons. "I was dealing," he said, "with the Balf our' Note, and-1-said that that part of the Balf our Note which pledged the British Government to sacrifice, that to put upon, the shoulders of its own people a large part of the indebtedness' of foreign countries, was the infamous . part of the Note, and I went on to say that if circumstances arose in the fuiture—that meant, of course, in the question of these debt settlements and re-1 pi arations, and inter-Allied debts general ly—that these questions would be reopened, then we should consider oursej yes free to enter into these negotiatioi is, not accepting-—repudiating was the word I used—the principle of the Bali'our Note. '"i"hat is what I said. It was perfeetlj' clear that my remarks applied only - 4 to the reopening of tho question in the future, and to that part of the BalfoinT Note which was, in my opinion, grossly unfair to this. country. "I hi id not, and to any sensible person it to ould be perfectly apparent that I had no\t, ,and should not have had any idea 6f s epudiation of the settlements themselves, because if;the settlements were repudiated, what would happen? Why, we aihould get nothing at .all, unless those- agreements were' substituted ■by other agreements. But I would ask you to reis ember this, that it is two years since ■'•, Mr. Churchill made that agreement -w.ith France, but the French Government i*iave never ratified it, and, therefore, it fc as no binding effect whatever. -' : \. ' „ " "Whatl sat id," he continued, "was when this question of reparation and Allied- debts ■ col mes to be considered in a conference of* all the nations concerned, I, for one, .\\t any rate, would demand that we 4 hould enter into, those negotiations with a free hand, unbound, i unhampered, to'make'the best possible settlement not on\'y in the interests of this country, but n i the interests of the whole world. ; :....,'■ "If a succeedinj '. Government is to ; be bound by the co» imitments of a previous Government, aif ■a previousi Government enters' into ,;contractual* obligations with another «'ountry which the succeeding Governniei it of a different party will be expeete* 1 to accept, then it is the duty of the Be. itish Government to consult with the pj'wty which may be called upon to.confirm and adhere to this agreement. That has never been done in regard to the:* o Debt Settlements." ■ ■ \ CHANCELLOR'S * '.EPLY. In reply to this Mr. ( ihurchill, the Chancellor of the Exehequ* t, issued the following rejoinder:-* „• _ "Mr. Snowden's efforts feo escape by bluster from the embarraa ments on which Ins indiscretions have Vlanded him and his party should mislea d no one. J-he^ official policy of the Lab* iur Party, as declared by himself as lat* '•" as Wednesday last, is: 'That we woid'd favour an all-round cancellation of dt *ts and reparations.'- ---_ "If this policy were now earri'ea out, Great Britain would receive nothing irom the Continent, and pay noth. ing to the United States. ; We should, >, there; fore, be neither better nor wo'ra c off than on the post-war settlement of ilebta and reparations. y ß^We< a, r-e at the Present mots ent, under the policy of the Balfour N y ote, virtually in the same position, and this we are determined to maintain. VVo have to pay £33,000,000 this year to ttVo'i United States, and we are receiving ai iproximately the same sum from EuVope. If there were how 'an all-round' ww r^° n °f debts ana reparations,' what difference would there be to us?' The world might be better off: we ' should be in exactly the same position. ALL-ROUND CANCELLATION. "It is therefore not open to Mr. Snowden. to pose aE the champion of British claims against Europe, and declare thai he will no* see bis country

'Wed white,' etc., for he has. himself aim-med and,is at the moment affirming that he is in favour of an all-round cancellation of debts and reparations. Such an all-round cancellation would mean that Great Britain would be torgiven £900,000,000 of debt by the United States, and hav.e to forgive the European nations nearly £2,000,000,000. 'Thus, according to the official policy of the Labour Party, and to Mr. Snowden s .own declarations, we should on the balance have to wipe out over £1,000,000,000 pf debt rightly owing to us, and would make no profit of any land out of the post-war settlements of debts and reparations. "In the same breath, however, and by what I can only call a hiatus in the reasoning power, Mr. Snowden proceeds to declare that the Balfour Note in 'infamous,' because it says that we will take no more from America than, America takes from us, and that he will hold himself free J to repudiate this voluntary promise which: we have made tor seven years past before all the; world. . ■ O "The proposal that we should take more from Europe' than America takes from us is irreconcilable with the Labour Party declaration, in. favour of general cancellation of debts and reparations and Mr. Snowden is "apparently so blinded by his hatred of France thib lie cannot see he is demanding two contrary things at the same time."