LEAGUE AND MANDATES.

Northern Advocate, 20 December 1920, Page 5

LEAGUE AND MANDATES.

JAPAN ACQUIESCES.

HIGH iSALARY IN DISPUTE

(Received 9.25 a.m.)

GENEVA, Dec. 18

The Japanese submitted a declaration relating to the mandates. They still have a firm conviction concerning their claim for equal opportunities for trade and commerce, but from a spirit of conciliation and cooperation and reluctance to see the question unsettled any longer they have decided to agree to the issue- of the mandates in their present form. The decision however should not be conflicted as acquiescence in discriminatory and disadvantageous treatment in the mandated territories, nor have they discarded the. rights and interests enjoyed (by Japanese subjects. The Assembly considered the Budget. It was reported that Argentina, Salvador and Paraguay had not paid their contribution. It was deemed a primary obligtation to promptly pay the allotments, but it was admitted that the method of distribution was unfair, as iSouth Africa and others paid as much as Britain. A committee of five, in conjunction with the Postal Union, should be appointed to draft a formula for equitable allocation. X iSir James Allen characterised the salary and allowances oif the Secre-tary-General of £10,000 as altogether too high. He compared it with what the Governor-General" of New Zealand and the Prim e Minister received, j also "the expensive Labour organza-; tion. The Indian delegate thought that; the salaries had been fixed at a time when people were engaged upon war j and thought in millions. "Mr Balfour said that the attack on the .Secretary-General's salary called ifor a reply. He ventured to say that Sir James Allen's comparisons were misleading and erroneous. No man went into politics as a monetary profession. A ipolitician looked for fame. He stood in the limelight and sought for power. These were his reward. The Secretary-General could not (be measured by the politician's sftandard or that of civil, servants. The Powers at Versailles had created .fch e Office and named this pay and it would be discreditable for the Assembly to go back upon the arrangement thus made. Apart from this he was prepared to defend "the salary upon its merits. The head of a great organisation like the League of Nations should not be placed on a lower plane than an Ambassador. After a spirited debate the Budget was adopted. The Council's mandate decision on the lines forecasted has given Mr Millen the utmost satisfaction. It is a tribute to his efforts to secure a solution in conformity with Australia's desires.—A. and N.Z.