TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 28 July 1934, Page 8

TIMELY TOPICS

THOStJ WAR DEBTS. “The .4ni ,, r i tan argument,” can ments the “E.’?r.ing Staivdrrd” (Loudon) “that ribs year’s surplus deprives us of any claim to special consideration is irrelevant. The surplus was taken from the already overburdened British taxpayer and wageearner, aiyl is owed to them. Our claim to special consideration now is based on the much’greaua consideration giver, to others in the past. Wh.vi chi - debts were fun 1..-I, the British Uabilitr was reduced only bv IS per cent, but the French was reduced by 50 per cent, and the Italian by SO. I Our, main case, however, is that at Lausanne we forgave our foreign debtors in full, on the understanding, inspired by President Hoover, that America on her side would also forgive, That understanding was not. realised. But, as everyone knows, our clemency toward our debtors is in practice irrevocable. Thor. 1 is not the slightest possibility thar any country will ever begin to poy ;.s aga.i!.' <s><s> <s> <S> <B> EMPIRE TRADE. Taking the world as a Avholo the year 1033, from the economic point of view, was a period of marking time, says the “Morning Post.” In most countries the continuing decline of the preceding years was arrested, j but there was little general tendency toward improvement. All the more conspicuous was the recovery achieved by the British Empire, both as a whole and in most of its individual parts. , . , From all Hie Dominions come reports of increased output, of healthier financial conditions, and of better trade, more especially with other parts of the Empire. In the case of Canada, for instance, trade with the Empire was for Hie first time ns extensive as with the United States; Australia again sent 55 per cent of her exports to the United Kingdom, as against only 30 per cent j in 1028-20, while South Africa ’sprang I to second place, next to India, as an importer of British .goods. Of the part played by the Ottawa Agreements in stimulating inter-imperial exchanges there can be no doubt, and testimony to their benefits is included in nearly all tlip reports.

<a> <i> <*> <s> WORDS OF WISDOM. Half flic serious Ills of the Soul can bo traced to a Neglected Chill. <s> <S> $> 4> 4> TALE OF THE DAY. Wife (in from her afternoon out): “Well, dear, I've found just the spring eosimne I’ve been. . looking for.” Husband: “Splendid! T certainly couldn’t have afforded to buy it for you.”