NEWS OF THE WEEK A LL British friends of the League
of Nations have been made. extremely anxious by the unexpected man- oeuvre for increasing the number of permanent:members of the Council. " Manoeuvre " may seem a harsh word to use, but we fear that it is justified. &thing so inopportune and so threatening to the usefulness and indeed to the whole character of the League could not have happened except by design. At Locarno when the admission of Germany to the League was discussed not a word was said about bringing in Poland, Spain and Brazil as permanent 'members. The tacit assumption was that Germany was to come in " on equal terms" with the few Great Powers 'which have 'permanent seats. Of course France and Poland are able to put forward what at first sight looks like a generous and broadminded argument for the 'inclusion of Poland. There are rumours that when Sir Austen Chamberlain was in Paris he was impressed by this argument, and some of the French newspapers write 'as though he had in fact committed himself to the in- clusion of Poland.
