FINANCING WARS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16209, 6 December 1926, Page 7

FINANCING WARS

INTERNATIONAL TREASURY CONSIDERED BY LEAGUE [Australian and N.Z. Cable Association • . LONDON, Dec. 4. It is reported from Paris that Sir Austen Chamberlain and, M. Briand had a conference regarding the Geneva agenda, and reached complete accord. Amonrr the foremost questions tn co-mo before the League Council at Geneva next will be a Finnish' proposal for an international war chest to bo placed at the disposal of an v nation threatened by war. The tentative suggestion is that Britain and other great Towers undertake;, in the. event of a member of the League becoming, the victim.of aggression, to provide"" an immediate loan up to say £50,000,000, each Bower promising to find £10,000,000. Each Government, would gurantee tho share raised by its bankers according to tho Finnish proposal. This would avoid the necessity of exposed States, such as those along the Russian frontier, maintaining,heavy armaments and munition factories.

The League Council'.s sub-committee yesterdav decided to instruct its financial committee to examine the Finnish proposal and all analogous measures. The Finnish representative thanked members for the interest shown in the question. Tho Daily Telegraph's diplomatic correspondent regards this proposal to supplement article 6 of the Covenant as amazing. "It means that the British taxpayer would be required to repay a loan from which only a foreign country Or armament firms would benefit," he says, "since we know, from past experience, (hat war loans made by Britain evrti to the richest countries are not recoverable. Once we start financing such operations wo must go on. Finally the proposals will tend to make the smaller countries unreasonably sensitive and bellicose." The Sunday Express' diplomatic correspondent mentions it as an astonishing fact that Mr. Churchill authorised the British representatives on th e Leapue Finance Committee to consider the granting of war credits up to £10,000,000 under the Finnish proposal, and adds: "Mr. Churchill may arsjue that the. amount will bo the real maximum and that moreover,, it may never be reouired, and will not be given in. any case unless the other Powers aproe to tnake similar advances. But it is not clear how the money, once given, will be recovered, and from whence."