FUTURE OF SIAM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 301, 21 December 1945, Page 5

FUTURE OF SIAM

BRITISH AND US- DIFFER QUESTION OF REPARATIONS Reed. 9 p.m. Washington, Doc. 22 Britain has demanded between one million and one and half million tons of rice as reparations from Siam. “This demand and Siam's role in the South-ea t Asia security system remain the only differences’ between lhe British and American Governments, says the “New York Times' ” correspondent. “The United States originally adopted an attitude tiiathe Tice demand was an improper

form of reparations from Siam. This demand was unprecedented in any negotiations with defeated countrie. in this war. The British, however, persisted in asserting that Malayan and Burmese peoples were desperately short of rice and Siam should make a ‘gilt’ in restitution for wrongs done, 'lhe United States, al present, is attempting to scale down the quantity demanded to, at the most, 800,000 tons. The British regard the British-Ameri-can dispute over the security system as involving nothing but language, but the State Department considers the difference is one of substance and also the United States felt the proposal, as originally drafted, wouid make Siam a virtual military protectorate of Britain, but the British assured Washington that such ■ was neither their intention nor desire.”