DEBT REPUDIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20841, 7 April 1931, Page 9

DEBT REPUDIATION.

I' FEELING IN ENGLAND. SHOCK FOR BONDHOLDERS. i \ Uncertainty as to future. Bj Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received April G. 7.25 p.m.) LONDON, April 5. Tho Morning Post's financial editor says a shock has been given to holders of trustee securities by Mr. Lang's repudiation and it is scarcely surprising that tho goncral question of tho responsibility incurred by overseas Governments tinder tho Colonial Stock Act should have been raised. Tho paper quotes a correspondent who asks, apropos of Mr. Lang, what guarantee is there that similar crises will not ariso in future? Ho points out that it is manifestly impossible for tho British Government to permit a person of such financial influence as Mr. Lang, by virtue of his office, to cause widespread ruin to beneficiaries in what often aro small estates.

, AMERICAN OPINION.

STATE AND COMMONWEALTH. SHIFTING OF OBLIGATION. (Received April G, 5.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 5. In tho courso of a leading article headed " Australia Thinks Twice," the New York Times says:— In tho strained domestic situation between tho Commonwealth and New South Wales it is to bo strongly suspected that the State is not so savage as might appear. Ono may conjecture that the militant Lang is pleased at heart that there is a Scullin to permit him the luxury of a great gesture of defiance, without incurring tho risk of untoward consequences.

Would New South Wales actually have ventured to refuse to pay the interest on her bonds in the hands of British owners if she had not known that tho Commonwealth would intervene and assume her repudiated obligation ? Beyond that Mr. Lang must have known, as it now appears, that tho central Government has the means of reimbursing itself. Actually it may bo said of the present situation in Australia that compared with the outlook a few months ago it is distinctly reassuring. Outweighing tho gesture of one Stato in dishonouring its obligations is the decisive manner in which the .. Federal Government has spoken out and acted. On the other side to-day there is no question as to where Mr. Scullin stands.

FIDUCIARY BILL. MR. SCULLIN'S DECISION. ELECTION IF DEFEATED. MELBOURNE, April G. The Prime Minister, Mr. J. H. Scullin, in the course of a speech at tho Victorian Labour Conference, said the Federal Ministry would appeal to the people if the Fiduciary Currency Bill were rejected by the Senate. Tho announcement was received With applause. Mr. Scullin added: " New uprisings are occurring in all parts of Australia with the idea of stirring the imagination of tho people, but Labour is in the happy position of not. having to search for a name. To defeat Labour a combination of the half-dozen parties, some as yet unnamed, is necessary. " It is remarkable that so many financial geniuses can be found. Since the country turned out the Bruce Government ind Labour assumed office tho country has become full of financial saviours."