THE PRICE OF PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 201, 26 August 1930, Page 6

THE PRICE OF PEACE.

The House lias just passed a vote of £10, ISO towards the expenses of the League of Nations. This is one per cent of what we have until recently been spending on defence and is a little under twopence per head per annum. The total cost of the League is just over £1,000,000 a year. This expenditure covers the whole cost of the Secretariat, the International Labour Oiliee and the Court. It also carries the cost of all Council meetings of the annual Assembly, of the technical organisations, tlio advisory committees and special committees, all administrative work and all salaries and allowances. The exports who serve on the technical and advisory committees receive only their out-of-pocket expenses. The meeting of the Assembly attended by delegations from more than fifty States and often lasting a month costs a little over £13,000. This cannot be considered excessive when compared with the cost of many other international conferences. The average cost of the Secretariat is about; £400,000, of the Labour Office £289,000, and the Court £80,000. The cost of has been steadily growing as its work has expanded and this has caused some concern to the members. The first League Budget was £256,000, apportioned amongst thirty-two States. Some difficulty was experienced in finding an equitable method of apportioning expenses. At first the scale of the Postal Union was adopted, but this was found to bear unfairly on the smaller States. Poland, for instance, paid the same amount as France and Great Britain. A new method was therefore adopted based upon "ability to pay," and this ability was determined by population, revenue and trade. Under the Postal Union rating New Zealand contributed £1900 out of a total •of £250,000, while under the last rating adopted we pay £10,000 out of a total of a little over £1,000,000. We rank with the Irisli Free State and Finland. Out of its revenue the League has set apart a sum for working capital and for building a new Assembly Hall. In presenting tlio budget for the coming year M. Botelln, said that in six years the expenditure had increased by about £320,000. He recognised the neca for economy, but he did not think the total League expenditure need dismay us. He. said: "Comparing it with the budget estimates of the individual States wo see what an enormous difference there is between this total and those estimates; and I think that, when all is said and done, the League'' expenditure is still a good deal below the cost of one of those warships of which a few will still remain even after the conversations between the British Empire and the United States of America." Compared with tha cost of the last war the Lcasrue is certainly cheap. \ —'VOL