£5,000,000 FOR DEFENCE AND OTHER PURPOSES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 18, 21 July 1939, Page 10

£5,000,000 FOR DEFENCE AND OTHER PURPOSES

£4,000,000 FOR PRIVATE IMPORTS

THE CONVERSION NEGOTIATIONS

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyrizht.) (Received July 21, 9 a.m.)

LONDON, July 20. The New Zealand Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash^ stated that Britain has agreed to £5,000,000 credit for Government purchases for defence and other purposes, and £4,000,000 to be allotted to private imports. He said that the conversion negotiations are proceeding satisfactorily.

LONDON PRESS COMMENT.

The City Editor of "The Times" says that the agreement im plies that New Zealand will take steps to curtail her overseas expenditure and thus relieve the pressure on available exchange from a long-term viewpoint. » The City Editor of the "Daily Mail" says that Mr. Nash seemed to he tired and by no means confident that the credits would see New Zealand out of the wood, but the credits will avert the risk of commercial default.

The City Editor of the "News Chronicle" says that Mr. NashV acceptance must premise a genuine intention by New Zealand to cut her coat according to her cloth. The City Editor of the "Daily Herald" says that the final con version is likely to be a short-term public issue repayable between 1941 and 1945, with obligatory interim repayments. The "Herald" also considers that the agreement is not an unreasonable one. Britis! manufacturers should not complain, as the credits will be spent in Britain. New Zealand stocks are certain to rise as the Dominion fully honours its obligations to the investors. . The Secretary of Overseas Trade, Mr. R. S. Hudson, speakin? at an Empire Chambers of Commerce dinner, warned the Dominion that any curtailment of United Kingdom exports on its part would reduce Britain's capacity and willingness to go on buying and to impair England's economic strength at a time when it was vital that it should be maintained in order to defend the Empire. It is understood that the Dominions Office does not agree that New Zealand's policy is consistent with the Ottawa Agreement.