CENTURY-OLD WAR DEBT

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 July 1934, Page 10

CENTURY-OLD WAR DEBT

“NO RECOVERY.”

WASHINGTON, May 22

Hopes of British bondholders recovering from America part of the £78,000.000 which is estimated to be the present value of bonds repudiated by eight States of the- Union nearly a century ago were dashed by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court today. The Court has refused permission to the Principality of Monaco to file a suit against the State of Mississippi to recover the principal and interest on £20,000 worth of bonds issued by the State over 90 years ago. These bonds were presented to Monaco by two British and one American holder of Mississippi bonds, private individuals having no power to take proceedings against the State. To-day the Supreme Court decided that even a Sovereign State could not sue Mississippi under the Constitution without the consent of that State.

According to figures compiled by the British Corporation of Foreign Bondholders, seven other States of the American Union have defaulted or repudiated debts to British lenders, the approximate total of the principal being $60,000,000 (£12,000,000). It is computed that .unpaid interest would bring this sum up to about £78,000,000.