25 OCTOBER 1935, Page 2

Germany and the League

Germany's exit from the League of Nations is since Monday an accomplished fact, for on that day the two-years' notice of resignation which she gave in 1933 expired. Her departure has long been discounted, and creates no new situation.' Indeed in some respects there is less antagonism between Berlin and Geneva than there was a year ago. Germany has made a good impression in League circles by her payment of all her dues to the League at a time when foreign currency iS very scarce, and in certain 'circles, at any rate, in Berlin the firmness of the League in its handling of the Abys- sinian dispute has evoked almost appreciative com3nent. There is no prospect of Germany's early return to League-. membership, but Herr Hitler has always been careful to explain that under certain conditions her seat at Geneva might again be filled. One of the conditions, quite certainly, is that the League should show itself capable of functioning effectively. Same of the average German's professed contempt for the League in the last year or se was an assumed pose. So far as it was genuine it is beginning to be dissipated in the face of the League's demeanour in a crisis. That is a necessary first step towards the resumption of closer relations.

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