France is at present inquiring how much her share of the cost of running the League of Nations is likely to be. According to the estimates framed by Sir Eric Drummond, the General Secretary of the League, the outlay for the quarter ended June 30, 1920, will be £55,000 for the central offices and £64,500 for indirect expenditure under the control of the League. At the present rate of exchange this will mean that France will have to hand out about Fr. 2,000,000 a year. This prospect not at all pleasing to the Finance Committee of the Chamber. They say, through their reporter, M. Noblemaire, that they have great difficulty in forming an opinion about expenditure which does not' depend on the French Government alone, but they object to the "magnificent salaries" drawn by the principal officials of the League, and they would like to know what is to be done for some of the other high officials, now serving as presidents of some of the important international commissions, who have not yet been paid anything at all and who are completely in the dark as to the remuneration and their staffs are likely to There has always been considerable jealousy over the appointment of an Englishman as General Secretary of the League, and it is reflected in M. Noble-maire's remark that it looks as if some were getting too much and others too little. The committee shows its dissatisfaction by cutting down the credits to the extent of about £1,600, adding that if a request for more money is presented before the end of the year, it is to be hoped that more "precise information will be forthcoming.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.