FOUR DEFAULTERS.

Wairarapa Age, 16 December 1932, Page 5

FOUR DEFAULTERS.

ESTHONIA’S ACTION UNCERTAIN. HARD FACTS APPARENT. (Received Thursday, 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON, December 14. The war debt situation to-night moved out of the realm of things academic into the field of hard reality, but the confusion and uncertainty nevertheless seem somehow to be intensified. The American people and American Government cannot be said to be anything like satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations leading up to December 15. Four of the eleven countries due to make payments have announced default—France, Belgium, Hungary and, to-night, Poland—while Esthonia’s action is still uncertain. Italy paid today, and five pay to-morrow the 124,934,000 dollars due. That any action will be suggested by the President against defaulters is dismissed as out of the question. All talk of retaliatory measures is without foundation. It seems indicated that the impulse towards the clarification of the serious and obviously unhappy situation will come with President Hoover’s impending Message to Congress relative to the entire question. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE.

The usually wSH-informed chief Washington correspondent of tho “New York Times’’ telegraphs tonight: “The Message will review the state of world opinion relative to debts on a factual basis and urge Congress to empower the executive statesmen of the United States in close co-operation with Britain, to approach a re-survey of the question for all the nations involved without regard to the acknowledged legal rights of the United States to collect war debts. The Parliaments of the defaulting nations reflect the popular foreign belief that there is no moral bond. This is just as pronounced as the belief in Congress to the contrary. In the view of the Administration, if the debt issues settle down to a tug-of-war among parliaments tho brood of international hostilities will be engendered, meaning much hardship to the world. The ameliorating agency of statesmanship must not be disorganised. By paying their debt instalments, Italy and particularly Britain, are in a commanding position. Their plea for review and revision is now expected to carry extra weight.” Tho correspondent adds: “Congress has been confident that all nations would pay, that they were bluffing, and the entire attempt to obtain revision was selfish propaganda. The French and Belgian action has brought about a more reflective mood on the part of many influential members. Some of them welcome the action of the defaulting nations as advancing the date of a solution of the entire question by at least six months.” J