OUR DEBTS TO BRITAIN.

Wairarapa Age, 4 July 1936, Page 3

OUR DEBTS TO BRITAIN.

INTEREST AND THE PURCHASE OF MANUFACTURES. PREMIER ON THE POSITION. WELLINGTON, July 3. Commenting further on the Government’s attitude towards its overseas obligations, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage), in an interview to-day, emphasised the point that the more New Zealand paid to Britain in the way of interest on loans, the less New Zealand would be able to pay to Britain for her manufactures. “A child will see that,” declared Mr. Savage. "At a given time there is only a certain amount of production in New Zealand, and we export a large percentage of that. And I again say emphatically that the more that goes away in the payment of interest the less New Zealand will have for the payment of services given by Britain. It is in Britain’s own interest that there should be common sense reigning in the industrial and financial world.

°lf the interest bill was not as large as it is, the difference would go to Britain for the products of the Labour of British workmen. By that I mean that there would be a better distribution of the money paid. We have no desire to side-step our responsibilities either in New Zealand or abroad. The only question for consideration is that of a more equitable distribution, and that applies to Britain just the same as to New Zealand.” STATEMENT REGRETTED. COMMENT BY MR. FORBES. WELLINGTON, July 3<r The Prime Minister’s regrettable statement in regard to a reduction of the rate of interest on our British loans will be read by those who invested in our loans in the past as a veiled threat of repudiation,” said the Leader of the Opposition (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) in an interview to-day. °I cannot think for one moment that that was what he intended to say, as it is so utterly opposed to all the political parties have stood for in the past—that is, to honour our obligations to our kith and kin in the Old Land as long as it is humanly possible for us to do so. During the depth of the depression we might have had some justification to ask for some relief, but we did not do so as we felt that the holders of our bonds were also suffering from the same cause; but to suggest, or almost demand, that reduction when the country is in a prosperous condition is unthinkable. I hope that the Prime Minister will make it immediately clear that that was not what he contemplate ed, and that we would, as in the past, honour our obligations.”