LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 35, 10 August 1921, Page 9

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

SHOULD IT MOVE TO VIENNA?

PALACES NEEDING TENANTS,

(FROM OUft OWN COKMUONMNT.) LONDON, 9th June. A report has appeared in the Viennese press that, owing to the high cost of living in Geneva and the honsing difficulty, the League of Nations is considering the advisability of having ita headquarters elsewhere, Vienna and Turin both being mentioned as " -possibles." " To transfer the headquarters of the League to Vienna," says the special correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, "would be simply to effect what many people have thought desirable ever sines the Danube confusion arose. The practical objections raised to Geneva would! here jbe largely overcome.* The cort^of. living is becoming steadily higher, but) is still a long way short of iJiat in other; countries, and will probably-remain »o for a long time to come. ' As regards housing, Vienna has a War Ministry, a Hofburjr, a huge Pariiament, 'Schoeiibrun Palace,.'and other buildings now wholly or partially derelict for want_ of a tenant sufficiently large and imposing to occupy them. Vienna has a good central position, too, for. West and Central Europe, Italy, and,the Balkans, and: railway facilities are steadily improving. "And Vienna has a life about it which! Geneva cannot pretend to have. Here the living; creative legislative work which we _,all hope. from the • League would he performed where its/presence may yet be most urgently needed—in the valley of the Danube, where we are now recognising that the ■work of disruption has gone farther than anyone wiihed, and farther, probably, than anyone foresaw. Danube countries. and their new ieconomy will probably be the most malleable port of Europe for many a year to come; it would be helpful to have the' League working from the very centre, and helping, these countries to adjust themselves :to themselves and to each other." ,•-. ■ :. :-.- ■';'. „' " '„.'..•.;',.

REPORT ON THE SECRETARIAT.;. A email,and independent commission of experts has circulated to various Governments a report on the organisation, method of work, efficiency, salaries,' and allowances of the staff of the League of Nations. On the question of salaries, allowances, yetc:, the commission find;' both in respect of the secretariat and of the International Labour Office, that there has been much ill-informed and unjust criticism. Generally speaking, the salaries offered correspond to v those obtainable by persons doing similar work, in the British Civil Service, only after some years of service in the grade, which means no more than that for the period of initial organisation a fully-trained and experienced personnel has had to be engaged. The secretariat seems to have kept well within the bounds prescribed in the Covenant. Internal organisation Mt been laid out on wand, and scientific lines, the staff are property graded,. and the work reaches a level creditable to all concerned. : v .- i;i SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SALARY.

With regard .to the Secretary-General (whose terms of engagement included aa official house, and a salary of £4000 a year, with £6000 entertainment allowance), Sir Eric Drummond haj waived his claim to the bouse, and it is jestsnmended that he should be givea a special house allowance of £1000, if ois entertainment allowance is redneed to £2500. Ais cost of living is higher in Geneva than in almost any city in Bnrope, the oiperts suggest transfer to Brussels, Fontainebleau, • Turin, or Vienna. But meetings of the oooncfl and commissions should be held normally in Geneva,'to prevent waste on tnMUing and maintenance. • : ■:■ ■'

In a «pea*l section of tba nport, Un experts reply to criticumi an On bternation»l L> boar Office, day that it is either partisan or prppaniklist^ "the staff are inspired wtth too lofty an idea of its mission so to compranue it* work"; its .fundamental object ia the collection of correct and impartial information on tb£ probknyi f( Ak day « ;wP^- »^BStli?Wßlßtifa>" ■-- " ','■'■- "... ■ ■-■,-■