Nov. 14.
While there is much secrecy maintained in Berlin and Moscow as to the reasons for MIN. Molotov's visit to Berlin, and the subjects which are to be discussed between his dogation and Hitler's government. there is tone thing which may be considered certain, and that is that M. Stalin will doubtless benefit from any decisions which may be arrived at in exactly the same manner as he thas since the Russo-German Pact on August of last year. There appears to be three distinct possibilities in this latest meeting—the arrangement of a German-Russian-Japanese Pact in accordance with the alleged Secret terms of the Japanese alliance with Italy and Germany, the perfection of diplomatic preparations to the south-cast aimed at eventual control of Iraq. all. seizure of: the Suez Canal, an attempt to expel Britain from the Mediterranean, and an endeavour fo drive a wedge between Great Britain and Turkey.
'A great deal necessarily depends upon what Hitler has to offer M. Stalin, for there fare several unattractive features about the Suspected German drive to the south-east from the Russian point of view, not the east of which would be an eventual possible enemy flanking Russia from the Baltic to, the Caspian Sea and it is thought that Hitler will have to bid high for M. Stalin's benedic~ tion upon any such venture, The suspected rapprochement between Russia and Japan, if succeeds, will see the transformation of the Anti-Komintern Pact into a pact of peace and understanding, with what were formerly ideologically opposed countries now assem~ bled in a close hugger-mugger of friendship each hoping to get the best out of the arrangement. At the most it will prove an unstable formation dependent entirely upon whatever profits each participant sees a chance of securing, founded solely upon ¢xpediencies and ing the fundamental enmities which exist between various of them.
That is a point which must always be remembered when watching the gyrations of Hitler, the man who wrote in "Mein If we speak today in Europe of new soil we can but think first' of Russia and her subject order states...... who said at Nuremberg September, 1936:—
We sce in Bolshevism a bestial, mad doctrine which Is a threat to Us.
Teannot make a pact with a regime whose frst get is not the liberation of workmen but of the inmates of Jail and who further declared in Berlin February, 1924
Shall I remind you of the Bolshevist Ri volution which slaughtered millions upon millions of people, but whose bloodstained murderers still occupy high places?.... With tone single country alone we have detested 10 center into relationships, That state is Soviel Russia, We see in Bolshevism, more now before, the incarnation of huis ductive forces.
That of a truth is the picture of a potent devil, as Hitler has turned out to be, repu)
but it also serves to emphasize the underlying enmity which marks the rapprochement with Russia, which he ix now stu ing furiously to extend.
Hitler may succeed nother big diplomatic stroke in bringing about a more cordial understanding between Russia, Japan, Italy and himself. His needs are sore and he will undoubtedly bid to gain is ends. But the policy is just as short~ sighted as Japan's was when she entered into, military alliance with the Rome-Berlin Axis. It represents the sacrifice of the long view for immediate expedients, and M. Stalin in a position in which' he can _eynically afford fo wait The picture of Germany ly standing cap-in-hand before M. Stalin, ud endeavouring to persuade Japan to do the same thing has a certain grim humour about it which the Russian leader will cer~ tainly not fail to appeceiate. At the same prepared ta 40 to tion which the manner strated him. obviously prepared to offer" any thi incl everything to avoid the continue reversion {o barbarism for a short while, encouraged in such a course by a succession of immediate victories. It can very much be doubted, however, how long it will pursue this course when the consequences of its own ets are visited upon its own head; when the ruthlessness it has displayed towards the rest of the world is in turn displayed towards it.
And this is just what the German people are experiencing now. Bombs on Berlin and scores of lesser cities are showing them that they are not invincible, as their leaders assured them. The threat of slow starvation is fac-
With th publication of report the Municipal Economy committee, which has been engaged in making an exhaustive survey of the whole of the municipal service, has not yet its ing them. They have been told that guns are better than butter, but when they were ganization of finished, with the exception of the Finance Department which is being studied by special committee of accountants. Perusal of the various reports which the Economy Committee has made to the Council clearly shows how thorough it has been in its work, and indeed it appears to have approached its task with an entirely different conception of its Guties than some of its predecessors. It is to be very warmly congratulated on the result of its labours, for it has clearly proved that a periodical searching scrutiny of the municipal organization is of distinct value not only to the Council but to the ratepayers themselves, serving, on the one hand, to prevent undue complacency, and. on the other to reaffirm the confidence of the ratepayers in the. administration. In this connection it is interesting to note that the Committee has not only examined the present organization, but has expressed its views as to the proper ines of future development, This has been done by an international body of business men who clearly have applied the principles under which they administer their own concerns, and it is because of that that the various reports which the Economy Committee has issued have peculiar significance. What has happened is that an administration, large staffed by Britons, has undergone the closest possible examination of a body composed of different nationalities which has produced a judgment of the utmost importance. Every one of the municipal departments investigated has stood up well to the tests of a rigid investigation. Many valuable suggestions have been made. but the general conclusion to be drawn is that the verdict of the Economy Committee on the present organization and administra tion amounts to an expression of reasonable satisfaction. That must be a source of con= siderable satisfaction not only to the heads of departments, and the councillors of the present and past years but also to the rate= payers themselves, for it is not to be believed that the Economy Committee would have shirked its responsibilities by failing to in~ dicate whatever important shortcomings it might have discovered.
Another pleasing feature of the reports which have been issued up to the present is that the Committee has been able to embody suggestions in them which have emanated from heads of the departments concerned, and it is important and pleasing to note that the Jatter have rendered the Committee every Fossible assistance in their work. It ix understood that two very important matters stil remain to be dealt with, namely the Council's terms and conditions of service, and the possibility of increasing the Council's revenue, The Committee's judgment on these {wo important points will be awaited with very considerable interest for much of the future efficiency of the administration depends upon its findings.
11 is important {0 remember the constitu tion of the Committee which has been, and is doing the work which has led up to the publication of these various reports, Tt con sists of two each of Britons, Japanese, Americans and Chinese, and one each of German, Mahan, French, and Netherlanders, making @ total of twelve. It cannot be said that there was any one community dominate ing the committee, the impartiality of which can in no way be doubted. From its scrutiny the Council's administration has emerged satisfactorily. The Council consented to the committee's appointment in view of the storm of criticism directed ayainst it prior to the last annual meeting of ratepayers. Much of that criticism was shown at the time to be irresponsible, or at any rate based upon in-That view is strongly ridings of the Economy: Committee, and it is to be hoped that, now the Council's organization hus been so thoroughly examined by an independent, re~ presentative committee appointed by the Fatepayers themselves, the Council and its officials will be spared in the future much sin which has been
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.