NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17755, 14 April 1921, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ARTICLE TEN INTERPRETED.

American objections to the League of Nations Covenant are based very largely upon the provisions of Article X. Discussing the admission of new members, in the journal of the League of Nations Union, Lord Robert Cecil says tliis article was given at the first Assembly an interpretation which constitutes a very valuable precedent for the future. This article has been widely misunderstood as meaning that the members of the league undertake to guarantee' in perpetuity the present territories of its members. It was'definitely laid down in the Assembly that Article X. does no more than declare that no attempt must be made to change the present distribution of territory by external aggression, and if any such attempt is made, the members of the league will consult-on the best means of resisting it. It does not involve any objection to any such changes which are brought about by peaceful means or even by internal revolt. The ruling of the Assembly, he adds, is of the very greatest value, and should have the effect of converting to the support of the league many whose objections were based mainly on a misunderstanding of this provision of the Covenant.

POWERS OUTSIDE THE LEAGUE.

There has been an interesting correspondence in Headway, the journal of the League of Nations Union, regarding the fact that three great Powers are not members of the league. Invited by the Union to express his opinions on the league, Mr. G. Bernard Shaw wrote that " the difficulty is that there is no league of nations. ... A league of nations with Germany, Russia, and the United States omitted cannot impose on anybody. At any moment the three omitted Powers may make a counter-alliance. The present league would have to admit them or else reduce the whole idea of the league to adßurdity." In reply to Mr. Shaw, Professor Gilbert Murray wrote: —Everybody wants the United States in; a very large majority, including Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, wants Germany in. Her admission this time was only postponed because (1) she did not apply, and (2) M. Viviani made an incontrovertible techni cal point against her. By Article I. of the Covenant, a new member has to give ''effective guarantees of its sincere intentions to observe its international obligations," and Germany's "sincere intentions" are at the present, moment the sub ject of vehement controversy. lam a prudent man, and I do not wish to reduce Headway to the position of a sporting paper; but I will go so far as to bet Mr. Shaw sixpence that if Germany applies for admission in September, she will be admitted by an overwhelming majority. The case of Russia is quite different. If Russia would consent to become a genuine member of the league„ about half the worst, difficulties of international politics would disappear. But Russia loathes and repudiates the league. Mr. Shaw should realise that the comparative moderation of tone with which the Russian Govern ment speaks of "the blood-sucking tortoises" of the English Fabian Society and Labour Party is chiefly duo to their having exhausted all the stronger language on the League ot Nations.

SOUTH AFRICAN GOLDMINES. Addressing the last annual meeting of the South African Chamber of Mines, Sir Evelyn Wallers, said the relief afforded to the gold mining industry, by the gold premium is necessarily temporary. The problem of the low-grade mines is thus not solved by the gold premium, but merely postponed. Sir Evelyn drew attention to the fact that, while in 1914 the Far East Rand contributed only about 26 per cent, of the total dividends paid in that year, in 1918 it contributed about 62 per cent. In 1919, the dividends paid by the remainder of the Reef amounted to only £2,393,703, which, though a slight improvement on the £1,929,430 of 1918, still leaves an insufficient margin of safety. To show how narrow the margin is, Sir Evelyn, mentioned that, with working costs at their present figure sixteen of the mines now at work, employing between them 5,800 Europeans, will, when gold drops to 100s per oz, be making a loss. When it drops to 90s, the number of mines affected will be increased to 26, and the number of European employees to nearly 12,000 ; and, when gold returns to its normal prices, 31 mines, with a total of about 14,400 European employees, will no longer pay for working.

TRAMCAR DESIGN. A prize of £1000 was offered last Mav by the London County Council for the best design for a type of tramcar for the London tramways service. The competition was advertised in Britain as in some of the Dominions, France, and America, and in response 76 proposals were submitted. Mr. A. L. C. Fell, the general manager of the tramways department, and Mr. J. P. Crouch, of the Metropolitan Carriage and Waggon Company, ~were appointed by the Highways Committee to examine and report on the designs submitted. The report states that none of the proposals or designs received was considered to be of sufficient merit to justify the award of the prize. . Many of the competitors, they point out, suggested the construction of a car with a central entrance without regard to the limits of length imposed by physical conditions in London or-to police and other regulations which have to be observed. Reverse staircases were also suggested in some cases, although these are not permissible for the same reason. In the majority of cases a complete lack of electrical and mechanical knowledge was shown by the competitors with regard to the design of such important features as electrical equipment and trucks or bogies. Nothing new and prac-' tical has, in fact, been suggested, so that the competition must be regarded as a complete failure in every way.

SWEDISH FOREST LAWS. Of the total area of Sweden about 54 per cent. is occupied "by forest land, and of all European countries only Finland has a somewhat larger percentage of forest land than Sweden. By far the greater parts of the forests are held by private owners; in view of this fact the State authorities have found cause to promulgate forest laws with the object of both preventing reckless felling and of promoting rejuvenation. Owing to the great extension of the country from north to south, and the fact that conditions vary very considerably, special forest laws apply to different parts of the country. The laws which interfere most completely with the liberty of the individual proprietor are those which apply to the northernmost counties, especially to th& Lapp grounds situated' there. In the private forests in those parts the cutting of trees for sale may not take place except after inspection by the State foresters. Such inspection must also precede cutting in forests whose preservation has proved to be necessary to prevent the injurious effects of mountain winds on areas situated lower down the so-called protective forests. In the central and southern parts of the country the general law as to the care of private forests holds good in the main, with its fundamental principle that the cutting of forests in general may not take place in such a way that the re-growth of the forests is obviously endangered, and it is incumbent on any person who is responsible for *such cutting to take measures for the restoration of the ground thus cleared to a forest-bearing condition. To watch over the regulations of. this lastnamed law every county council area in the region to which the law applies has a forest preservation council with forest officials under it. These bodies receive subsidies from the State and the county corporations, and also considerable sums from the county forest preservation dues, which amount to 1.3 of the forest value of all the timber cut for sale within the county. With the funds thus accruing, the forest preservation councils try to benefit private forest, management by carrying on an extensive propaganda with regard to the efficient management of forests bv making grants for forest preservation measures for the draining of water-logffed forest lauds, etc