31 JULY 1926, Page 2

A good example of the confused purposes in these transactions

is given in the statement. This country could have been fed on wheat from the Empire and the Argentine without any American help of money or wheat. Owing to the dire difficulties of tonnage, and for no other reason, it was decided to ship Australian wheat to the Mediterranean ports of France and Italy, and to ship wheat to Great Britain from the United States, whereby we incurred a debt. But for the freight troubles, Italy and France would have depended on the United States for wheat and there would have been no British debt. There is no reason why anyone should understand this unless he was intimate at the time with the work of the Wheat Commission, the Commission Inter-Alliee de Ravitaillement and of the Allied Maritime . Transport Council. The pity is that he should talk about it.