I desire, by way of correction, to refer to what happened on the Committee Stage of this Bill last week on the question as to the payment of these sums. I used three sentences in their context. The President afterwards intervened, and represented me as suggesting that these moneys were not due and should not be paid. I intervened subsequently to say that that was not my intention. I pointed out, as appears in the Official Report, column 1857, in reply to the President:
"I made it quite clear that I meant it was not payable at the present time as the conditions are not fulfilled."
That was a plain enough indication of what my meaning was. Subsequently the President came into the House and said: "Deputy Rice corrected himself to-day." I should say I did not correct myself. I corrected the President's statement of what I had said. The President continued:
"I stated that he had said the money was not due and he denied that. I said I was prepared to take his correction but I have since got the transcript of his speech. It is a matter of record, but here is what he is reported as having said."
Then the President purports to quote what I said on this matter and undoubtedly the one sentence he did quote, he quoted correctly. He quoted as follows:
"This country, through its Government, now proposes to pay a debt which is not due. That is what he said. He corrected that to-day when I charged him with it. Other Deputies whom I heard speaking are apparently of a like mind."
That purports to be a quotation of what I said, and a justification of the interpretation put by the President on my remarks. Turning back, however, to the Official Reports I find in column 1836 what I did say was this—and I should like to call the attention of the House to the fact that there are three sentences in my statement, but there is one context dealing with this matter. The one sentence quoted is the middle sentence of the three, and no reference whatever is made by the President to the others, namely the first or third. Of course, if you take the sentence out of its context it can bear an entirely different meaning from what was intended to be conveyed. I leave to the judgment of the House whether my statement, as to what I intended to convey is accurate, or whether the President's interpretation was accurate. Here is what I said:—
"At the present time every country in the world that owes debts is trying by every honourable means to postpone payment owing to the financial conditions. This country, through its Government, now proposes to pay a debt which is not due."
That is the sentence quoted by the President. I went on:—
"This debt is not due because the condition of affairs under which these bonds are payable has not arisen."
Of course, this debate showed perfectly well, apart from the sentences I have quoted, what I was referring to, that the condition on which the bonds are repayable had not been fulfilled, and no person hearing these three sentences could be under any possible misapprehension as to what they meant.
If it is not out of order I would like to say that I had no opportunity of making this correction until to-day, because the transcript was not available to me as it was to the President on the date in question. In these circumstances it would be very well if we could revert back to the old practice of having the Official Reports available two days after publication. If that were done, I should not have been compelled to remain silent with this charge hanging over me for the past six days.
