Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education; C. L. Bæröe, Minister of Agriculture; Karl Wefring, Minister of Defence; and Anders Venger, Minister of Works.

The debate on the programme of the new Government took place in the Storting on March 16 and 17. The Government declared its principal object to be the improvement of the public finances and reduction of expenditure in all branches of the administration. Mr. Mowinckel maintained that the Government ought to withdraw the Budget estimates for the financial year 1926-27, submitted to the Storting by the former Government. The Premier replied that it was the intention of the Government to effect far-reaching retrenchments, but it was necessary to proceed carefully. The new Government's scheme for reduction of expenditure could not come into force before the fiscal year 1927-28. A motion of no-confidence brought forward by the Labour Parties was defeated by a large majority.

In April the State Monopoly of the sale of grain, which had been established during the war, was abolished, both the Odelsting (the Lower House) and the Lagting (the Upper House), by narrow majorities, adopting the proposal to this effect made by the Conservative and Agrarian Parties. The proposal included a new organisation of the sale of grain with a State subsidy for the home production. The subsidy is covered by an import duty on wheat.

The Odelsting, on July 14, decided, in accordance with the report of the "Protocol Committee," to prosecute before the High Court of the Realm the Conservative ex-Premier, Abraham Berge, and six members of his Government for having, in May, 1923, without the consent of the Storting, deposited 25,000,000 kroner with "Norges Handelsbank" (The Norwegian Bank of Commerce), in order to save the bank from failing. The deposit, which ultimately resulted in a loss to the State of about 20,000,000 kroner was kept secret, neither the King nor Parliament being informed. The "Protocol Committee," in its report, emphasised the fact that Mr. Berge and his colleagues undoubtedly acted from patriotic motives, with the sole object of saving the country from a serious financial crisis. They had no personal interest whatsoever in the "Handelsbank," and their action did not in any way reflect on their integrity. Nevertheless it was, in the opinion of the committee, a breach of constitutional law, and could not be passed over lightly.

The report of the committee was adopted by 62 to 50 votes, as far as Mr. Berge was concerned, and by 58 to 54 votes in the case of the following politicians who were members of the Berge Cabinet C. F. Michelet, O. S. Klingenberg, C. Middelthon, I. Rye Holmboe, A. Venger and K. W. Wefring.

A motion criticising the conduct of Mr. Lykke also was rejected by 65 to 47 votes. The present Premier had been President

of the Storting in 1923, but was not informed of the secret support of the Handelsbank till several months later, when he was elected chairman of the representative body of the Bank. A minority in the Protocol Committee blamed him for not having told the Storting of the secret deposit when the question of granting an additional relief of 15,000,000 kroner was discussed in Parliament in 1924. Mr. Lykke then advised Mr. Berge to inform the Storting of his previous action, but as Mr. Berge objected, he did not consider himself free to make any disclosure.

The prosecution aroused immense interest, this being the first impeachment before the High Court of the Realm since 1884. The High Court is composed of the members of the Lagting, the Upper House of the Storting, and nine judges of the Supreme Court. The defendants having made use of their right to challenge one-third of the members, the court consisted of twenty-seven persons when the proceedings commenced in October. The trial had not been concluded by the end of the year.

Two of the impeached politicians, K. W. Wefring and A. Venger, who were members of the Lykke Cabinet, resigned shortly after the decision of the Odelsting. They were replaced by W. H. Darre Jensen, who was appointed Minister of Works, and Knud Oyen, who became Minister of Justice, Mr. Christensen leaving the Ministry of Justice to take over the Ministry of Defence.

Even greater interest was aroused by the prohibition referendum which was taken on October 18, and resulted in a crushing defeat of prohibition. In Norway, unlike the United States and Finland, prohibition applied only to spirits, the sale of beer and wine having always been permitted. Prohibition of spirits was introduced during the war as an emergency measure by Order in Council and was made permanent in 1919 after a referendum which showed a majority of 184,344 votes in its favour. In the campaign preceding the new referendum the churches took a very active part, a "Christian Temperance Council" being formed representing the leading missionary societies within the State Church and the Free Churches. The interference of the churches was strongly resented by the anti-prohibitionists, and the leading Conservative papers declined to publish, even as an advertisement, a manifesto in favour of prohibition, signed by about 200 clergymen of the State Church.

It was generally expected that there would still be a majority, although a reduced one, in favour of prohibition. The referendum showed, however, that a landslide had taken place, the antiprohibitionists capturing many prohibition strongholds. The final result was: 422,206 votes for, and 530,934 votes against, prohibition. The chief cause of the reversal in public opinion was undoubtedly the fact that illicit private distilling under prohibition had shown an alarming increase while smuggling had

decreased. A remarkable feature of the referendum was the attitude of the workers, who voted solidly against prohibition in opposition to their leaders and the official programme of the Labour parties. The referendum was only of an advisory character, but no one doubted that the Storting would accept the verdict of the people and repeal the prohibition law in the course of 1927.

A proposal for the re-union of the Labour Party (Independent Communist) and the Social-Democratic Party was adopted by the national executives of the two parties in December, and was also endorsed by the Executive of the General Federation of Trade Unions. The two parties will hold national congresses in the beginning of 1927 to decide the question finally. The Socialists have agreed to sever their present connection with the Second International, the headquarters of which is at Zurich, as the reunited party is to be attached to no International. The draft programme which has been agreed upon by the appointed representatives of the two parties is highly Radical in tone, but not revolutionary. The responsible Labour leaders seem at last to have dropped the violent phraseology which has proved so disastrous to their party prospects. The two parties have, at present, 32 representatives together in the Storting, while the Moscow Communists, who are still keeping aloof, number 6.

Economically, the year was almost as full of hardship as the preceding one, the rise of the Norwegian exchange to about par causing serious inconvenience to the export industries and to agriculture. A Labour conflict in the spring concerning wages in some of the most important industries was satisfactorily terminated by the intervention of the Government, a general wage reduction of about 15 per cent. being accepted by the workmen.

FINLAND.

After a somewhat prolonged Government crisis, a Cabinet was formed by M. Kjösti Kallio on the last day of 1925. The new Government, of which half the members were drawn from the Agrarian Party and half from the Finnish Coalition Party, was Conservative in tendency, and declared its intention of combating any movement hostile to the existing basis of society, and of improving the defensive forces of the country and fostering a spirit of greater unity within the Army. Its power was held from the first on a precarious tenure, since its supporters numbered only 82 in a Diet of 200. Nevertheless, it succeeded in maintaining itself in office till nearly the end of the year, chiefly owing to the unwillingness of any other party or combination to take its place. The legislative achievements of the Government were meagre, but it ratified treaties regarding commerce and navigation with

Hungary, and Arbitration Conventions with Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

In November allegations were made in the Diet of illegal dealings between the Ministry of Defence and a Finnish ammunition factory, as a result of which worthless cartridges had been supplied to the Government. The Minister of Defence, Hr. Hjelmann, denied the charges, at the same time taking on himself the sole blame for any irregularity that might have occurred. The Prime Minister, however, declared that the Government were collectively responsible, and made the matter a question of confidence. On November 23 the Government was defeated by 108 votes to 84 on a motion brought forward by the Swedish Party, supported by the Socialists and Communists, and immediately afterwards resigned. The President thereupon asked Hr. Tanner, the leader of the Socialist Party, which was the largest in the Diet, to form a Government. Hr. Tanner at first tried to form a Coalition Ministry which should rest on the support of a majority in the Diet, but no party would co-operate with him except the Swedish Left. Eventually, therefore, on December 11, he formed a Government on a purely Socialist basis, the Socialists thus coming back to power for the first time since the Revolution of 1918.

In the field of foreign policy the Government of M. Kallio had shown itself reluctant to enter into closer formal relations with other countries, and anxious only to maintain friendship with them on the basis already existing. Nevertheless, it made arbitration conventions with Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and entered into negotiations with the Soviet Government for a Pact of non-Aggression. These, however, were broken off on November 25, as the Soviet Government refused to accept a proposal to submit differences to arbitration, or to agree to the appointment of a neutral President for the proposed Conciliation Commission, points on which the Finnish delegates insisted.

The year witnessed various manifestations of aggressive nationalism on the part of the Finns which led to counter-manifestations on the part of the Swedish-speaking inhabitants of the country. Early in the year a number of officers, including the head of the Finnish Navy, Commodore von Schoultz, were retired owing to their failure to pass a rather severe examination in the Finnish language. In March the Minister of Education, Dr. Ingman, delivered a public speech in which he severely attacked the Finnish Chauvinists for their intolerance in the matter of the language question, but his interference was keenly resented by them and merely provoked them to angry rejoinders. A little later a "True Finland League" was formed to promote the interests of the Finnish people and the Finnish language both at home and abroad. The movement spread rapidly, appealing especially to the young. The Swedish-Finns, on their side, in the

middle of March organised a "Swedish Week" at Helsingfors, during which representatives of Swedish Science, Learning, and Art were entertained privately by the Swedish Committee of Finland, and received by President Relander; and the "Swedish National Party," at its general meeting held in May, reaffirmed its intention to secure the rights" of the Swedish part of the population, and to work all the harder to this end in view of the growth of the "True Finnish " movement.

At the beginning of October, President Relander made official visits to Oslo and Copenhagen. He was warmly received in both capitals, in spite of the denunciations of Communists, who had not forgiven him for the part he had played in the civil disturbances that took place in Finland at the end of the war.

THE Coronation of Riza Shah Pahlevi as Shah of Persia took place on April 25 in the Gulistan Palace in Teheran. Besides a large concourse of Persian notables, all the members of the Diplomatic corps were present, and, for the first time in an affair of this kind, European ladies were also allowed admission. Riza Shah entered the Throne Room wearing the Nadir Shah aigrette, but on ascending the throne he removed the aigrette and placed the Pahlevi crown on his head, and then took possession of Nadir Shah's sword. The coronation ceremony evoked great popular enthusiasm, and was followed by festivities in the capital which lasted for several days.

The fifth Mejliss was dissolved in the spring, having sat for its full term of two years. Its chief legislative achievements had been to modify the Constitution so as to harmonise it with the change of dynasty, to recognise Iraq, to settle affairs in Mohammerah, to create a Government monopoly in tea and sugar, and to impose a compounded road tax on goods entering all frontiers, in lieu of the old road tolls. Elections for a new Mejliss were commenced in April, and were completed in the provinces with all despatch. In the capital, however, it was found that the military had interfered with the freedom of the electors, and the Shah ordered the election to be held afresh. In consequence of this delay the new Mejliss did not meet till June. Shortly before it opened the Shah thought it expedient to get rid of the existing Prime Minister, Mirza Mohammed Tarrughi, who had become unpopular owing to his failure to deal with the bread scarcity in