THE WAR DEBTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 285, 30 October 1933, Page 7

THE WAR DEBTS

LITTLE PRGRESS MADE. A DIFFICULT TASK. TOKEN PAYMENT RUMOURED. (United Press Association—By Electric T elegraph.—Copyright.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 28. Rumours that the Anglo-American debt negotiations, which .have been in progress for three weeks, had reached a stage of dissolving and that the British delegation might soon return without reaching an agreement, could not be confirmed, although were not officially denied. It was reliably stated that little progress had been made. Officials declined to comment further than to say that another conference would be held next week. The New York Times’s Washington correspondent says that the British war debt delegation will formally call on Mr Roosevelt within a few days. Administration circles expect that a result of the conference will be the shelving of the debt discussions for an indefinite period. Persons who were in close touch with the three conferences declare that the viewpoints were so far apart that the discussions were liniited to general statements of each nation’s position. The inauguration of the new monetary policy and the strain of the N.R.A. recovery programme made the negotiations more difficult. The pending Soviet recognition conversations are held to be another factor in making the postponement desirable. It is thought that Mr Roosevelt will offer Britain an opportunity to make another “token” payment, which, although not satisfactory to London, will probably he accepted as the only alternative offered to avoid default.