FUNDING BRITISH DEBT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18325, 15 February 1923, Page 7

FUNDING BRITISH DEBT.

SENATE DEBATE OPENS. MR. BORAH OPPOSES BILL. A. and N.Z. WASHINGTON, Feb. 13. The Senate voted to displace the Ship Subsidy Bill, giving the Debt Settlement Bill the right of way. The debt measure was immediately called up, and will be debated to-day and to-morrow. If a vote is not taken by to-morrow night a definite time will be fixed for the vote. Mr. McCumber, opening the debate, declared that - the greatest service the United States could render the troubled world was to show the utmost leniency to debtor nations, the settlement of whose debts should be made in the light of that nation's economic situation and ability to pay. He hoped that the British settlement would prove a lesson, if not an inspiration, to other debtors to validate their obligations. Mr, McCumber argued that the British terms were the best obtainable. It was a great } deal bettor to get some money moving into the United States Treasury than to let the debt stand in expectation of more favourable terms. Mr. Reed Smoot predicted that no other debtor nation would offer more favourable terms than Britain, and he did not think that other nations would agree to the same terms as Britain. Mr. W. E. Borah interrupted, declaring that the debt settlement would not stabilise world' conditions so long as Europe continued spending money on vast armies arid navies. He pointed out that the United States, by settling the debt, would relinquish the one powerful agency it held to bring Europe to a sane and peaceful policy. Mr. Pomerene ironically suggested that an economic conference and an association of nations would cure) the world's ills, to which Mr. Borah retorted: You may treat it lightly if you wish, but the fact remains that tho mere settlement of debts, while the security behind the obligations remains unsettled, does nothing toward stabilising economic conditions.