10 OCTOBER 1931, Page 2

There is truth in the first contention, though Lord D'Abernon

does not explain the virtues of " invisible exports " and foreign investments, on which the truth mainly' depends. It is not fair to put this country on a level with the United States and France in an undis- criminating condemnation for unwise treatment of debtor countries and potential customers. We are not now creditors in the same degree as the United States is a creditor country. We' have not taken the high Protec- tionist line taken in the United States and 'less blatantly in France too, by which goods are prevented from entering in payment of debts. If we have done little to strengthen the purchasing power of South America, India and China, at any rate we have tried, by investing money when we had any, by trading in China when conditions made it possible, and in India our last action to strengthen her finance was the guarantee of the British Treasury, announced this year.