The Arms Traffic Inquiry The Royal Commission on the Traffic
in Arms is to be judged both by its terms of reference and its personnel, the former. being on the whole more satisfactory than the latter. Holes could be picked in any formula, but the Government must be given credit for a desire to make the field of inquiry as wide as possible. There is, indeed, no legitimate question regarding either arms manufacture in this country or the international traffic that would necessarily be excluded, by the Commission's terms of reference. It will not have the same extensive powers as the American Senate committee on the same subject to call for any documents that seem relevant, and troubles may arise on this score, but it will apparently be able in case of need to take evidence on oath, and its proceedings will in general be public. As for the members of the Commission, while they all no doubt have their merits indi- vidually—it is not invidious to single out Mr. J. A. Spender as a particularly happy choice—no one with a reasonable knowledge of the varying qualities of public men of the day would find it difficult to suggest how a stronger commission might have been constituted. A good deal will obviously depend on the acumen and per- tinacity of the chairman, who is an octogenarian.
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