11 JANUARY 1930, Page 2

As a matter of fact the Treaty of Versailles does

not employ the word " sanctions " in connexion with a German default. The French plead Article 480 of the Treaty, which provides for a reoccupation of the Rhine- land if the Reparations Commission- reports that there has been a default. But will the Reparation Commission even exist when the International Bank has been estab- lished ? The French habit of referring to the Treaty with the fervour with which a Fundamentalist accepts the plenary verbal inspiration of Scripture—" even the punctuation "—is a curious survival, and it has very- inconvenient results.