BOUND TO ACCEPT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26026, 14 December 1945, Page 5

BOUND TO ACCEPT

HARD UP AFTER WAR REACTION IN THE HOUSE (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 13. “Britain regards the American loan as a very hard bargain which she is bound to accept because she is so hard up after her vast war effort in the common cause,” says the Daily Mail’s political correspondent summing up the House of Commons mood, which he describes as “ like a December frost.” “Any American Congressman who thinks John Bull outsmarted Uncle Sam on the deal ought to read Hansard before he writes his speech,” says the correspondent. “Never has a rescue been received so reluctantly and with so many doubts about the consequences.” He describes Sir John Anderson’s announcement that he would vote neither for nor against the motion as the sensation of the night. The Daily Mail draws attention to his remark that the use of the word “ welcomes ” in the motion relating to American initiative in the proposals for an international trade organisation “imparts a note of enthusiasm going far beyond anything we feel.” The House is asked only to “ approve ” of the other proposals. After two hours’ discussion, the Parliamentary Labour Party decided to give full support to the Government’s loan policy, says the Exchange Telegraph. The decision was almost unanimous. The Conservative Party met for half an hour, but a final decision was not made. Mr Churchill and all the leading figures in the Opposition were present. The Social Credit Party demonstrated in Parliament square, Westminster. and expressed disapproval cf the Bretton Woods proposals. A woman dressed as Britannia was dragged along by a gold chain marked “ Gold Standard ” by a man wearing a top-hat and smoking a cigar with a large dollar sign on his back. The Conservative “ shadow Cabinet’s” decision to advise all Conservatives to abstain from voting on the loan agreement to-morrow night is expected to have curious consequences, says the Press Association’s political correspondent. Abstention will probably emphasise the size of the Government majority. As the “ shadow Cabinet’s ” advice is not binding, some Conservatives will vote openly against the agreement. A few will support it, but the majority will follow the advice and abstain from voting.