26 JANUARY 1934, Page 6

Details of the bribery of various Paris papers by the

Russian Govenunent before the War have become -a part of accepted history. During the Peace Conference rival nationalities spent lavishly to get their cause championed morning by morning in one organ or another ; there is not much doubt that the Japanese were buying influence in the same way during the Manchurian con- troversy ; and now I hear, on authority hardly to be questioned, that German money is finding its way into more than one Paris newspaper office. The service to be rendered in return is the publication of articles designed to make the achievement of any disarmament agreement more difficult. For in the German circles from which the funds emanate the desire is for rearmament for Germany, not for disarmament all round. * * * *