142 AUSTRALIAN BALANCE OF INTERNATIONAL 
between debits and credits, i.e. the whole balance sheet ; while 
the difference between the debits and credits is regarded as the 
equilibrating factor in the balance, having regard, of course, to 
the values rather than to the physical quantities involved in 
the transactions. 
Similar confusion arises concerning the ‘balance of payments’ 
which is applied indifferently to both the equilibrium momen- 
tarily existing between payments due fo and by a country, and 
to the difference between the immediate debit and credit obliga- 
tions. In both meanings it is the state of monetary obligation 
at any moment rather than the long-period situation having 
regard to all indebtedness that is to be emphasized; but, for 
the sake of consistency, it is the equilibrium existing, rather 
than the difference, which is to be here understood. It is con- 
ceivable that, during a period when the general trend of inter- 
national indebtedness is against Australia, there will be occasions 
when the international account is, at the moment, ‘in credit’, i.e. 
the immediate difference is in Australia’s favour. 
With these distinctions in mind, it is proposed now to ascertain 
as nearly as possible the debit difference of international in- 
debtedness for Australia over the period between 1900 and 1913, 
i.e. the net amount of Australia’s obligations to other countries 
which was not offset by the shipment of goods, money, or 
services during that time. These obligations will be considered 
under the following heads: 
I. The Commodity Balance of Trade. 
IT. The ‘Service’ Balance, i.e. the balance of Freight, Insurance, 
and Tourist expenditures. 
ITI. Capital Investments and Interest Payments. 
IV. Non-Commercial Items, viz. : 
(a) Migrants’ Capital and 
(b) Non-commercial Remittances. 
V. The Total Estimated Balance of Indebtedness. 
The total debit difference thus ascertained! will then be com- 
' “The commodity balance of trade, the balance of service transactions, and the 
balance of non-commercial transactions, indicate respectively the differences be- 
tween the amounts of commodity imports and exports, of debit and credit. inter- 
national service transactions, and of debit and credit international non-commercial 
transactions, irrespective of whether or not the obligations created thereby are 
immediate or deferred. The total of these three balances equals the total balance of 
international indebtedness.” — Viner, op. cit., p. 22.