Paring Cheese at Geneva The one achievement by which the
British Delegation at the League of Nations Assembly appears to be dis- tinguishing itself is a niggling attack on every department of the League's expenditure. Economy is as necessary at Geneva as anywhere else, and a standing Supervisory Commission, of which Lord Meston is a member, exists to secure it. But for the one institution in the world existing for the organization of world peace to be spending little more than £1,000,000 (at par) annually more ob- viously suggests the desirability of expanding the League's budget than of curtailing it. As for the attack made on the Secretary-General's salary and entertainment allowance, it will surely be time enough to talk of that when it amounts to half what the British Ambassador at Washington gets under those heads. Regarding our own contribution to the League funds, if Great Britain goes off the gold standard payments in terms of gold—whether to Washington or to Geneva—naturally cost more in terms of pounds than before. But in the last gold standard year the British subscription to the League (International Labour Office and Hague Court included), was less than the cost of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Do we really need to try and screw percentages off typists' wages and try and close the valuable and important office which the League has for years maintained (under Mr. Vernon Bartlett) in London ?
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