BRITAIN AND AMERICA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20706, 2 May 1929, Page 9

BRITAIN AND AMERICA

THE DEBT SETTLEMENT. DEFENDED BY PRIME MINISTER. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDOw, April 30. (Received May 1, at 7.5 p.m.) Mr Baldwin defended the American debt settlement at a dinner of the British Bankers’ Association. Lord Bradbury, toasting his Majesty's Government, declared that he was disposed to think that Britain had made a bad bargain in debt funding, and he questioned whether the Government had chosen the most favourable moment for restoration of the gold standard. Tile Primq Minister, in reply, maintained that in the circumstances at the time it was not an unfair business settlement. We wore . liable for £50,000,000 for interest until the debt was funded or paid, and we would never have made any progress in the restoration of currencies in Europe or restored the credit of the city- of London to where it stands to-day if we had postponed indefinitely either paying or repudiating in the hope of making a better bargain. He claimed that the financial advantages gained from the restoration of the gold standard had been considerable. We got a staMe currency, stable exchanges, comparative stability of prices and wages, and a steady, uninterrupted fall in the cost of living. In conclusion he expressed the opinion that industrially the corner had ’been turned.—Australian Press Association—United Service.