5 AUGUST 1922, Page 26

The League of Nations has published, through Mescrs. Con- itable,

an elaborate Report on the Problem of Raw Mater/AzZs and Foodstuffs (10s. net), prepared by Professor Gini, with the assist- ance of Professor Vinci and Dr. Sloutski, from official returns furnished by the members of the League. It deals with wool, cotton, coal, oil, iron, cereals and fertilizers, and gives much useful information in an intelligible form. Professor Gini lays stress on the importance of stabilizing the exchanges in order to facilitate trade in food and raw materials. He maintains that all countries ought to revert at the earliest possible moment to the gold standard ; for most countries this would, of course, mean a devaluation of the currency—of the franc to a half and of the lira to perhaps a fourth of its pre-War value.