DEBATE IN COMMONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 November 1931, Page 7

DEBATE IN COMMONS

LABOUR AMENDMENT SIGHS FOR LOST SOCIALISM * [BY CABLE—PRESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] LONDON, November 12. In the House of. Commons, Sir Staf- ; ford Cripps, resuming the debate on . the Address-dn-Reply, submitted for . the Labour Party, an amendment ex- [ pressing regret at the absence of proposals for planning any public ownership of principal industries, including that of banking, and also at the ab- , sence of British initiative in th,e international action on the questions of war debts, reparations, currency and* exchange, and further at the introduction of economies at the expense of the unemployed and of the social services. The Labour Party, he said, would willingly support Mr MacDonald' in any efforts to carry out Labour’s international policy of getting rid of the war debts payments. The Government should use every effort to secure the reduction of armaments, as otherwise Germany and other nations would be crushed and then the utility of the Disarmament •• Conference would disappear. The Labour Party opposed the policy of the tariff protection in Britain, on the grounds that they would lose the most-favoured-nation treatment, on which the foreign trade

was based. The Government had a great opportunity of performing an international service in the direction of reducing, instead of increasing the trade barriers. Until the Government controlled the; Bank of England, it would not be able to rehabilitate the basic industries. There should be a reconstruction of agriculture and it must be based on the nationalisation of the land. Mi' Thomas agreed that neither free trade nor protection would solve the nation’s problems, but the country’s mandate was to use any ;means, including those of tariffs, to balance the country’s trade. Both Mr MacDonald’s manifesto and the King’s speech indicated a need for further development of the wealth of the British Commonwealth. He was well aware that there were differences between the various cronies and the Dominions, but with an all-round desire therefore, a settlement could be effected, if the Government entered into a war debts and, disarmament conference with cut and dried schemes it would court failure, but the Government, backed by an overwhelming majority of the nation, would enter international conferences with authority. »

ECONOMIC CONFERENCE. Mr Thomas informed Miss Gazalet, that the Cabinet were considering the date for the holding of the Imperial Economic Conference at Ottawa. Mi- Grattan Doyle (Conservative) asked: In view of altered conditions, is it necessary to wait till July?

Mr Thomas: Altered conditions make that especially necessary. lam ready to interpret the fee, lings of the House. The risk of failure must be considered, also all necessary preparations and the .hammering out of details. The first consideration ought to ensure success. Incidentally there is the question of the Dominions themselves. It would be impossible to hold the conference before July, and it would be absurd to convene it if one of the Dominions, for domestic reasons, were unable to attend. These ifacts are being considered. Sii’ H. Page-Croft (Conservative): In view of the delay, will you use your influence to 'see if any changes of policy occur in the meantime, that preference to the Dominions will be the basis.

Mr. Runciman answering a question as to the value of imports of butter from countries outside the Empire for the three months ended October 31, stated the imports were valued as follow: August £2,204,000; September, £2,132,000; October, £2,229,000. The countries from which this butter had chiefly been imported were Esthonia, Russia, Sweden and Finland.

MR BALDWIN’S SPEECH. CURRENCY AND REPARATIONS RUGBY, November 13. The debate in the Commons on the Address was continued to-day, when after the reply for the Government by Mr Baldwin, the Labour amendment was defeated by 422 votes to 38. Mr Baldwin accused the Opposition of disregarding the national crisis which the National Government was formed to meet and said the immediate task was to safeguard a balanced Budget, and confirm the faith of the world that they would not rest until they had restored the balance of trade, and established the currency in safety and security. There was undoubtedly great scope for international cooperation on the currency question, and the Government would willingly lend its aid.

As regards the pound, the Government’s intention, he said, was to stabilise it on a definite basis, when the necessary conditions were fulfilled, but those conditions must first be attained, so it could be sure the pound could maintain the position at which it was stabilised. The war debts and reparations were a most difficult problem. It was obvious to the whole world that the existing arrangements had broken down. Thanks to Mr Hoover, the world had had a breathing space, but he doubted, if it were sufficient. The Governments represented at the London Conference last .July, resolved, in order to assure the financial stability of Germany, which was. essential in the interests of the whole world, to co-operate as far as possible to restore confidence. Since then, the situation had gone from bad to worse, .largely because no action followed on that recommendation. The only action that could be taken was by Governments. Was this, asked Mr Baldwin, the moment for the initiative to come from Britain? Some kind of agreement between France and Germany was one of the most important preliminaries. The Governinent very much hoped the Franco-German discussions would lead to an agreement and believed there was a good chance of it. They desired that the necessary negotiations be proceeded with without loss of time. No agreement could be arrived at without the consent cf Britain, and when the time came to

express their views, they would be ready to do so. They were, preparing proposals with care, and convincing other nations these would be to their interests as well as our own. They could make a most useful contribution.

He pointed out that London had , been largely instrumental in financing Germany during the past ten years, thereby enabling her to carry on her international trade, and pay her reparations. The advances made by British financial houses had not been of a speculative character. They were founded on the best type of security known to the market. It was clear that the security of these obligations must not be endangered by political debts. If that were to take place, it would destroy Germany’s commercial credit, and once that was destroyed, there would be no future prospect at all for reparations. He trusted therefore, an agreement on this ipoint would be reached, but the question involved political prejudices and preoccupations in other great countries. He asked the House to trust the Government to choose the moment when Britain could intervene in . the negotiations with, the great? e,st effects