Economy at Geneva The Committee appointed to recommend economies in
the administration of the League of Nations has, as was expected, decided to propose a cut of 20 per cent. in the League Budget. It could hardly have done otherwise. On the one hand, several Stars which contributed largely to the League's income are no longer members of the League, and on the other, certain dr:partments of the Secretariat, for example the Disarmament and Political Sections, have no work to occupy staffs on the scale maintained ten years ago. On the other hand, the Financial and Economic, Health and Social Sections are as active as ever, and their work should clearly not be curtailed ; nor should that of the International Labour Office, which, however, has to reduce its expenditure by rather over k50,000. The changes do not take immediate effect (except that a grant of about £45,000 for League representation at the World's Fair at New York goes by the board) as they have to be ratified by the League Assembly in September. There has been no real basis for the charge that in the process of reduction of staff political considerations, in the shape of the elimination of officials distasteful to totali= tarian governments will prevail, but Assembly delegates will no doubt keep an eye on that.
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