30 MAY 1931, Page 1

News of the Week

Geneva THE session of the Council of the League of Nations came to an end last Saturday. As we have dealt with some of its work in a leading article, and a correspondei%t at Geneva has written a descriptive account also, we need not write much of it here, though it should be realized : that the work of the League should be studied widely beeause it has justified itself as the most important 'political work going on in the world. Assnredly no effect has been visible of the misehevious efforts of one London paper to decry the League's power, aims and work. That squib fizzled out damply. Its authors probably hope that it is forgotten, and -it will be remem- bered, with a sense of shame, only by those who care for the high standards of British journalism. There were two conspicuous marks about a session in which Herr Curtius, the President, Mr. Henderson and M. Briand were for different reasons the most important figures. One was the slow but uninterrupted progress of the preparations for the Disarmament Conference of next year on which hangs, in the opinion of some, the future of the world. The other was the rise of M. Briand's European Commission of the League as a body of great moment at Geneva. The quantity and the importance of the work sent up to the Council by this young body was a new feature.