News of the Week
ONE.definite decision appears to have come out of the conversations between Sir John Simon and Signor Mussolini, namely, that reform of the League of Nations (about which Italian ideas, so far as can be discovered, are still extremely hazy) is to be postponed till something has happened one way or the other regard- ing disarmament. That is a conclusion to be welcomed, for changes in the structure of the League must involve difficult and prolonged discussion, and one difficult and prolonged discussion at a time is quite enough. The disarmament outlook itself is better rather than worse, and it might be a great deal better still if the British Cabinet could bring itself to the point of some definite pronouncement. The French proposals, in which there are many good features, most particularly the offer to demobilize at 'once half the French air force (though not without conditions), are in the hands of Herr Hitler, who appears to be giving them the consideration they deserve. Further interchanges can be pursued with advantage. But for this country and Italy to take the line that they can only sit by indefinitely while France and Germany discuss is to stultify themselves and to throw away_ the opportunity of casting into the scale a weight which even now might prove decisive.
