DEFEATED ON WAR DEBT

Taranaki Daily News, 15 December 1932, Page 5

DEFEATED ON WAR DEBT

FRENCH GOVERNMENT RESIGNS

PAYMENT REFUSED BY CHAMBER

OTHER COUNTRIES MAY DEFAULT

' By Telwnph—Fres» Awn.—Copyright. Rec. 8 p.m. * 1 / Paris, December 14. . HERRIOT’S proposal to pay the war debts instalment to the’ United States, with reservations, was defeated by the Chamber of Deputies by 402 votes to 187 after an all-night debate, and M. Herriot’s Government has resigned. The vote of the. Finance arid Foreign Affairs Committee rejecting any form of payment on December 15 sealed the Government’s fate. The Debt Commission passed the death sentence after hearing from. M. Herriot’s owl! lips the text of his American Note. Even his own Radicals voted. against him. A Brussels message states that the Belgian Cabinet has announced that the American debt instalment, which would be £425,000, was based on Belgium’s capacity to pay, but the moratorium under the Lausanne agreement deprived her of the essential receipts, wherefore the payment on December 15 was impossible. A Warsaw message says it is understood that Poland, whose instalment is £860,000, is unlikely to pay America.

DRAMATIC SCENE IN HOUSE

FURTHER COMPLICATION

RIOTINC IN THE STREETS'

NEWS OF HERRIOT’S DEFEAT

HERRIOT’S FINAL APPEAL

DEFAULT DISTURBS U.S.A.

OVERWHELMING MAJORITY

BRITISH ACTION PRAISED

Rec. 7 p.m. Paris, Dec. 14. While dramatic scenes were in progress inside the Chamber of Deputies during the debate on war debts, equally exciting events were proceeding outside.. Mounted and foot police all tiie approaches, while crowds of Royalists and others demonstrated as close as possible, shouting, “Not a cent for America!’ There were several clashes between the police and the rioters. -The- latter threw paving stones at tramcars and tore up the iron railings protecting trees on the boulevards and used them as weapons. The police charged and a score of people were injured. Hundreds Wert arrested. War veterans marched to the statue of George Washington and laid a wreath with an' inscription against payment of the debt. .

Rec. 10.30 p.m. New York, Dec. 14. The lateness of the news from Paris of M. Herriot’s decisive defeat prevented official comment, although in the light of the previous administration interpretation the situation is regarded as further complicated. Britain’s new Note was received today. Mr. Stimson said the negotiations with the British Government were closed so far as concerned the December 15 payment. “I do not anticipate a reply will be necessary to to-day’s Note,” he added.

Meanwhile officials expressed considerable concern at the decision of the Belgian Cabinet to make default and the precarious position of the Herriot Cabinet, which many feared would not weather to-night’s debate in the Chamber. They admit the fall of the Cabinet would further complicate the situation. Routine debt Note answers were delivered to the Belgian Ambassador and the Czecho-Slovakian Minister in the same phraseology. The British Note -explained that 'the British Government in Sunday’s Note had intended to explain the circumstances in which it was decided to make the payment, and had not intended to “touch upon any matter affecting- the constitutional position of the United States.” It asserted that Britain “must reserve the right to recur” to those considerations which she set forth. There is. no quarrel here with this aim. The administration does not believe the claim later to be made will prove a complicated, one because so many larger questions .will be at issue in the revision negotiations. It is now generally regarded that the matter so far as Britain is concerned is in Mr. Roosevelt’s' hands. It is not believed the negotiations for a revision can possibly be started before March 4. Mr. Hoover is preparing a special Congressional Foreign Affairs Note and is now awaiting possible defaults to frame a communication. He is ignoring ’M. Harriot’s attacks in the Chamber of Deputies, apparently considering they were uttered more for local consumption than for foreign ears. It is conceded that the possibility of default by’ other countries besides Belgium would break the “united front,” but would not contribute to the easy approach of the problem of revision. , The New York Herald-Tribune in a leader praises Britain’s latest Note. “The long debate with Britain ,is over and the payment ended in a fashion which we are confident will in the long run . count heavily for mutual understanding and friendship between the two great Eng-lish-speaking .nations,” it says. “We welcome it and congratulate the spokesmen of both Governments. The result is that English credit stands in American eyes at the high point at whifh has been its tradition and boast. The consequence in this country in our. opinion is that sentiment will be strong for leniency and generosity towards a debtor so careful of its honour.” Mr. Roosevelt at Albany took occasion to categorically deny a reported interview with the London Daily Express saying he would urge the waiving of debt interest when he had been inaugurated into the Presidency. He denounced the interview as “made out of white cloth,’ ’and said it was very embarrassing.

Deputies in the Chamber loudly applauded * allegations of America’s double policy, consisting of intervening in Europe when America’s interests in Europe required Her to do so, and then withdrawing, when she encountered disagreeable ,responsibility.' Many speakers alleged that the real motive behind the Hoover moratorium was the interests of private American creditors whose money was locked up in Germany. Speaker after speaker argued that debt payments were no longer morally justified since they were no longer covered by Germany. The Chamber was still sitting at four o’clock ,in the morning, when M. Herriot rose to make his final appeal to the deputies to accept the Government’s decision to pay America with reservation. One of the most tellirtg speeches during the debate was that of a Conservative deputy, stressing the point that a creditor who by his action prevented a debtor from fulfilling his engagement thereby-lost his right to the execution of that engagement. This allusion to Mr. Hoover’s action in declaring a moratorium which deprived France- of her credit on Germany and thereby of the means to pay her own debts was greeted with an ovation by three-quarters of the deputies. . : . M. Chauvin, defending the Government, asked what the British people would think to-morrow when they were told France was paying neither America nor - Britain. Was it certain Englarid would demand nothing from France? The chamber rose at 6 a.m. and will meet again -when a new Government is formed. M. Herriot and other members of the Cabinet reached the Elysee at 6.15 and handed their resignation to the President, M. Le Brun, who at 9 a.m. commenced consultations for the formation of a new Cabinet. M. Herriot fought heroically, less to save the Government than to endeavour to keep France on the right path and avoid ruining solidarity with Britain. He eloquently claimed that what was at stake in the debate was France’s signature. M. Herriot declared that if France did not pay America Great Britain could not long continue to pay without asking France to pay'her.