19 JANUARY 1929, Page 2

Mr. T. V. Soong, the Chinese Minister of Finance, has

circulated a most depressing memorandum on the national finances. The million soldiers of the Chinese armies cannot be demobilized without a large expenditure. And they cannot be restored to civil life 'without great danger unless work is carefully provided for them. Yet there is no money to provide work. It is, as the Times special correspondent says, a dilemma. Hitherto the military commanders have requisitioned funds from the local authorities to pay their men. Mr. Soong deserves universal sympathy in the stand he is making for the exclusive right of his Ministry to appropriate and disburse funds.

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