ROBBING BRITAIN

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 85, 13 May 1929, Page 8

ROBBING BRITAIN

Australian Press Association-United Service

Australian Press Association.

. OPPOSITION TO PARIS SCHEME. The Position Reyiewed.

LOXDON. May 11. Controverting ihe unjustifiable for- 1 eign contention tliat tlie Balfour Xote wiped out the dominions' claims to rcparations, the Daily Tclcgrapli's i diplomatic corrcspondent points out that tlie Spa perceutages specificially mentioned tbe Empire, and tlie Balfour Xote only Britain. Furtliermore, the dominions were j separately represented at tlie Dawes | conference of 1924-25: also, in bisj memorandum of vestcrday agreeing to , tbe jiresent conference, 51r CTuircbiH explicitly reserved tlie dominions' riglits. Tbe British Press, wliicli is closcly watcliing the 'proceedings of the reparations experts in Paris, unaniliiouslv apjiroves tbe firm tone of Mr Winston Churchill's House _ of Commons statement tliat "the kind of proposals fofesbadowed in tbe newspapers would be unacceptable and His Jlajesty's Government woud in no circumstances entertain tbem.'' THE WHOLE COST. Tlie proposals mentioned were to tlie effect tliat practically tlie whole cost of revision of German reparations pa>nient sliould be borne by Great Britain by alteration, to Britain's disadvantage, of tlio perceutages already definitelv agreed to among tlie croditor Powers. The first pubhcation of tlie suggestions to tbis effect was greeted with a spontaneons outburst of protcst by the British press and tbis opinion is based broadl.v upon tbe feelin^ that Britain lias borne an oxcGSsivcly lica\y sliare of tlie financial burdens entailed by tbe i%ar. , "Great Britain made durmg tbe war advances to lier Allies to the amount of £1.600,000,000 and. in order to finance her Allies, borrowed more than balf that sum from the IJnited btates. Britain, in 1922 funded ber debt to the United vStates on terms wlneh provided for full repayment m 62 years witli back interest from June 1919, eapitalised at 41 per cent, and interest from tlie date of fundmg at .3 per eent for ten years and 31 per cent tliereafter. THE AMOUNTS DUE. Tlie amounts due to ber were far in evcess of lier debt due to tbe Lnited States, but tbe Balfour Xote ot August, 1922, summed up tlie Bntisli policy on tlie question in the follownig sentences : — "Tlie policy favoured b> His Majesty's Government is tliat oi surreiulering tlieir sliare of German rcparations and writing off tlirougn one great transaction tbe wbole body of inter-allied indebtedness, but, ii tbis be found nnpossible of accomplishment, we wish it to be understood tliat we do not in any event desire to make a pvofit out of any less satisfactory arrangement. In no circumstances do we propose to ask more ot our debtors than is necessary to pay our creditors, and, while we do not ask for more, all will admit that we can hardlv be content with less, for it sliould not be forgotten._ tliougb it sometimes is, tliat our liabilities were incurred for others and not for ourselves. M ATERI ALS AND MUN1TIONS. "Food, raw materials and munitions required by tbe immense naval aud military efforts of Great Britain and balf tbe £2,000,000.000 advanced to che Allies were provided, not by means of foreign loans, but by internal borrowiug and war taxation. Unfortunately, a similar policy was beyond tbe power of the other Kuropean nations. Appeal was therefore _ made to tbe Government of tbe IJnited States, and, under tbe arrangement tlien arrived at, tlie United States insisted, in substance if not in form. tbat, tliougb our Allies were to spend tbe money, it was only on our security tbat tliey were prepared to lend it. Tbis co-operative effort was of infinite value to tlie common cause, but it cannot be said tbat the role assigned to tbis country was onp of special pnvilege or advantage.' Hie sacrifices which tliis policy entails are reflected in the fact that Britain is the most heavily taxed nation, and among all tbe parties it is insisted tbat tbe cost of any further alleviation allowecl to Germany must not fall upon Britain alone. but must be sliared proportionately by all the creditor nations.