HIGH PRAISE FOR BRITAIN.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXV, Issue 19008, 16 October 1931, Page 9

HIGH PRAISE FOR BRITAIN.

Backbone in Crisis. SIGNOR MUSSOLINI’S TRIBUTE. OBlttd Press Association —By Elec trio Telegraph—Copyright PARIS, October 14. Signor Mussolini, In an article to "Les Annales,” pays a striking tribute to British back-bone in the crisis. He declares that after the first stupor caused by the suspension of the gold standard had passed, the world realised that the sterling was much more able to defend Itself, and return to normality than “many other things in this topsy-turvy universe.” British finances are guaranteed by almost unlimited resources. The confidence in British strength and financial integrity throughout the world acts in Britain’s favour. The hurricane will be short-lived, and a gradual return to calm is assured. OFF GOLD STANDARD. LORD ROTHERMERE’S FORECAST. United Free* Association '-Mr Bl sotrie Telegraph—Copyright (Received October 16, 7.30 p.m.) QUEBEC, October 14. “The pound sterling has been pegged at too high a rate previously, and he did not think Great Britain would ever return to the par of 4.86 2-3 dollars,” Lord Rothermere, the newspaper peer, stated in an interview before sailing for home to-day. He said that the world depression would not be over for some time, and in Great Britain they need not be expected to be let up for another twelve or eighteen months. CAUSE OF CRISIS. REPLY TO LABOUR ALLEGATIONS Efforts are being made by the Labour Party in Britain to persuade the public that the- fall of the Labour Government was due to a division in its ranke caused by a “virtual ultimatum- from New York bankers,” as the “Daily Herald” called it. That journal published a statement that further large credits were offered to the Bank of England “provided that specific and considerable economies were at once made in the administration or in the actual benefits paid under the unemployment insurance scheme.” This statement was officially denied by Mr Ramsay Macdonald, and the Economist declared that the report was manifestly incorrect because at that time neither the New York Reserve Bank nor any other foreign bank refused London a credit or consented to grant it only on terms, for the simple reason that no request for a further foreign credit was made. “It was not the dictation of bankers and financiers,” says the Scotsman, “which brought matters to a head; it was the loss of credit, resulting in the withdrawal of a large amount of gold from London; and this loss of credit was the direct outcome of our gross over-expenditure and an unbalanced Budget. The whole crisis is due to these two facts —over-expenditure and an unbalanced Budget. They are only too real —they are not figments of the imagination. Moreover, they have not been created by the bankers and financiers; they have been created by the politicians.”