INTERNATIONAL DEBT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 13

INTERNATIONAL DEBT.

BRITAIN'S SETTLEMENTS.

CRITICISM BY BANKER.

PRIME MINISTER IN REPLY.

Australian Pres3 Association—United Service (Received May 1, 7.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 30.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Baldwin, defended the American debt settlement at the annual dinner of the British Bankers' Association. , Lord Bradbury, in proposing the toast of the British Government, said he was disposed to think Britain had made a bad bargain in her debt funding arrangements. He also questioned whether the Government had chosen the most favourable moment for the restoration of the gold standard.

Mr. Baldwin maintained, that in the circumstances at the time it was not §n unfair business settlement. Britain was liable for £50,000,000 in interest until the debt was funded or paid. She would never have made any progress in the restoration of the currencies of Europe nor have restored the credit of the City of London to where it stood to-day if the Government had postponed indefinitely cither paying or repudiating the American debt in the hope of making a better bargain.

The Prime Minister claimed that the financial advantages accruing from the restoration of the gold standard had been considerable. They had secured stable currency, str.ble exchanges, comparative stability of prices and wages and a steady and uninterrupted fall in the cost of living. He expressed the opinion that, industrially, the corner had been turned.