For Great Britain the direct financial gain would be nothing
at all under our pledge, given in the " Balfour Note " to our Allies, that we would only collect from our debtors what we must pay to our creditors. There would even be a small loss of a sum paid annually on account of all that we paid in excess of our receipts before Lord Balfour's pledge was given and before our debtors' payments began to be paid. There are also likely to be complications as to interest payable on our loans to the Dominions for their War expenditure. Those loans were a domestic matter which was not considered in Lord Balfour's arrangements. Presumably, if Mr. Hoover's proposal will entail, as it should, all nations concerned agreeing to a moratorium for all international War debts, these British Imperial debts will remain outside consideration none the less. Tile telegrams, however, from Australia and New Zealand seem to indicate an expectation of a moratorium. The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to give them the option of taking it. He has reckoned that the whole moratorium may cost us as muchas £11,000,000.*
