13 DECEMBER 1924, Page 2

By far the most interesting point in the Debate on

the Address up to the time when we go to press on Thursday was Mr. Churchill's forecast of the Govern- ment's policy on inter-Allied Debts. Mr. Lloyd George, Sir John Simon and others had emphasized the. obvious fact that we are taxing ourselves • to a crushing degree and honestly paying 'off our Debt to America, while none of our Allies is either bearing a taxation like ours or attempting to pay its debts to us. Yet France has begun informal discussions at Washington with a view to funding her debt to America. That debt is small in comparison with the debt she owes to us. Mr. Churchill said on Wednesday :- " We do not wish to hinder any arrangement for mutual benefit which may be entered into between two friendly nations allied and associated with us in the Great War. We consider it essential, however, that any payment made by our debtors in Europe to their creditors in the United States should be accompanied simulta- neously, pan passu, by proportionate payment to Great Britain."

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