A WORD FOR THE LEAGUE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 305, 23 November 1932, Page 7

A WORD FOR THE LEAGUE.

ARE EXPENSES JUSTIFIED? Tired of turning the other the League of Nations is beginning to show active resentment against the critical assaults that are made against it, now almost every day (writes a London correspondent). Its propagandists have been particularly busy of late in repudiating the contention that it costs more than it is worth. Rightly or wrongly the league is firmly, convinced that it is worth more than it costs. At the instance of the British Government a strict inquiry has been made into the little matter of expenses, and the only result is the discovery that there are few, if any, openings for economy, even m the department of salaries. Indeed, it is recommended that the salary scale should remain intact on the ground that the facts did not justify the contention that it was excessive.

The whole cost of the league, including the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Labour Office, is about £1,347,000 a year. This may seem a large sum to spend in these hard times, but compared with war expenditure it is a mere bagatelle. As Lord Cecil pointed out recently at/Geneva, the amount spent on the league is an infinitesimal fraction of what the nations were more or less cheerfully lavishing on armaments, the total annual figure for which is approximately £900,000,000. Great Britain, for her part, pays £182,000 a year to the League, and spends over £104,030,000 on armaments. It has been calculated that out of every pound paid in taxation by hard-pressed Britisliers, 14s 6d goes to the settlement of war debts and preparations for another war, and only one half-pence to the League of Nations. How can it be argued, therefore, that the League is a luxury? It can at least be said that when the League machinery has been used it has proved decently effective in solving international problems and removing international mistrust. Most of the troubles of the world to-day are attributable to the fact that certain of the great Powers have shown a reluctance to use this machinery. By its work, too, for public health, by the reconstruction of those European countries that were shattered by the Great War, by transferring populations, by supervising the mandate system, by combating the evil of slavery, by fighting the drug traffic, and by other social activities, the League has more than justified its existence. Unless, at all events, it succeeds as an experiment, mankind can say farewell to peace and international understanding, the correspondent adds.