scheme for the financial restoration of Austria continued on the whole to give satisfactory results. During the year certain difficulties arose, partly owing to the fact that Austrian bankers lost a great deal of money by unjustifiable speculation on the fall of the French franc [see under Austria]; partly as a result of the fact that the Austrian Government did not carry out in their entirety the administrative reforms upon which the League scheme was based. These difficulties are now being overcome, and in any case they were not at any moment sufficiently serious to imperil the ultimate success of the work. During 1923 a scheme similar to the Austrian scheme had been prepared for Hungary, which followed the Austrian example in asking for the assistance of the League. This scheme was given its final form and was definitely accepted by the various powers concerned at the twenty-ninth session of the Council in March, 1924. It resembles the Austrian scheme in that it places the whole financial administration of Hungary under the control of a League High Commissioner who has very wide powers. To this post the Council of the League appointed Mr. Jeremiah Smith of Boston, U.S.A. Mr. Smith immediately succeeded in gaining the confidence of every section of Hungarian opinion. The Hungarian scheme differed from the Austrian, however, in that it involved no Government guarantee for the international loan which was to be raised on the money markets of the world, while it also provided that a certain fixed sum should be paid by Hungary every year to the Reparations Commission in execution of the reparation clauses of the Hungarian Treaty of Peace. It was anticipated by many experts that these two differences would prevent the Hungarian loan from having the success on the money markets which had been achieved in the previous year by the Austrian loan. Events did not justify this view, however, for when the Hungarian loan was floated in London, New York, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere, it was very heavily over-subscribed. The working of the scheme up to the end of 1924 was thoroughly satisfactory. The Hungarian currency was stabilised, the taxation system showed every sign of rapid recovery and there are good grounds for believing that the recovery of Hungary will be even more rapid than that of Austria.

The third work of economic reconstruction carried out by the League during 1923 related to the settlement of refugees in Greece. The general features of the scheme prepared for this purpose by the Council of the League and by the Greek Government, were described in the ANNUAL REGISTER for 1923 (p. 145). The International League Commission for which it provides was set up, and its work was begun with an initial sum of 1,000,000l. sterling advanced by the Bank of England. During 1924 the work done with this first instalment gave such satisfaction that the Bank of England agreed in May to make another advance of a similar amount, and the Financial Committee of

the League advised that a definite loan for the total amount required-12,500,000l.-should be floated as soon as the political conditions in Greece showed sufficient stability. It was judged by the Financial Committee that this stability had been achieved in November, and the loan was accordingly floated. The greater part of it was offered to the London and New York markets, and in both it was very heavily over-subscribed. As a result the League Commission has now sufficient funds to establish in reproductive work on Greek soil the whole of the million refugees who were thrown in a state of destitution upon a small and exhausted country two years ago; and those who know Greece well believe that the ultimate result will be greatly to increase the wealth and productive power of the country.

The administrative work of the League has continued without particular incident. To the Governing Body of the Saar Commission a new (Spanish) member was elected in March, 1924, and immediately succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Saar population. Unfortunately he died before the end of the year and was replaced by a Czechoslovak. In connexion. with the Protection of Minorities great progress was made by the settlement of all the outstanding minority questions in dispute between Poland and Germany. The Polish Government after long negotiations with the Council of the League made full compensation to the German colonists in respect of whose expropriation the Permanent Court of International Justice had adjudged them to be in default of their obligations. All the outstanding questions relating to the nationality of Germans in Poland were settled by a comprehensive Convention agreed to after negotiations which took place under the presidency of a League representative, M. Kaeckenbeeck. The Rumanian

Government also brought its legislation into accordance with its treaty for the Protection of Minorities, after representations made to it through the agency of the League. Various complaints have been received concerning the ill-treatment of minorities in Serbia, but so far the Council of the League has not found it possible to take action.

The Technical Commissions of the League have continued to do admirable work. The Financial Committee have had a large share in the work of economic reconstruction above described. The Economic Committee has carried a good deal further its preparation of a comprehensive programme for removing unnecessary economic barriers between different countries. The Health Committee has organised a number of exchanges of public health officers of different countries, developed its service of epidemiological information, established a permanent epidemiological office at Singapore, and conducted an intensive inquiry into the means by which malaria can be combated in various countries of Southern Europe, including Russia. The Transit Committee has secured a large number of signatures and ratifications for the eight conventions which it

prepared at its conferences in 1920 and 1923. The White Slave Committee has also done most important work by collecting valuable memoranda from different Governments concerning the system of "licensed houses." The result of these memoranda is to show that the system of licensed houses cannot be defended on grounds of public health. Concerning the illicit traffic in opium and other drugs two most important conferences were summoned in November, 1924. The work of these conferences had been carefully prepared by the Advisory Committee of the League, but, in spite of that, agreement on a plan for preventing the illicit traffic proved difficult to obtain. When the year closed it seemed doubtful whether any means could be found for conciliating the views of the British representatives with those of the influential American delegation which had come with the approval of the U.S. Congress to take part in the work of the conferences.

CHAPTER II.

IRELAND.

NORTHERN IRELAND.

The

IN the affairs of Northern Ireland the Boundary difficulty dwarfed during the year all other political issues. At the invitation of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, President Cosgrave and Sir James Craig had met in London on February 2 for a friendly consideration of the matters involved, but after a single sitting the Conference adjourned; and when it was resumed on April 24 a few hours' discussion showed that there was no possibility of a settlement by consent. In response to the Free State demand that the provisions of the Treaty should be enforced, the British Government appointed Mr. Justice Feetham, a member of the South African Judiciary, Chairman of the Commission. Government of North Ireland declined to nominate a third Commissioner, and on the question being referred by the British Cabinet to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council this body decided that unless the Northern Parliament appointed its Commissioner the Boundary Commission could not be set up under the existing law. In a manifesto issued after the pronouncement of the Committee, Sir James Craig described its findings as a complete vindication of the attitude of his Cabinet. He added that he still stood by his offer to meet the President of the Executive Council of the Free State "in a friendly spirit, and, with the aid of expert opinion, to settle the irritating question of the boundary and other correlated matters."

In view of the ruling of the Privy Council that Ulster's refusal to nominate a Commissioner was a casus improvisus, the Labour Government decided to introduce legislation to amend

the defect. Following this announcement Mr. Baldwin and Sir Worthington-Evans crossed to Belfast in the middle of August where they had interviews with Sir James Craig. Meanwhile arrangements were made in the Six Counties for demonstrations of protest against the proposed Bill, and in the last week of September largely attended meetings were held in Enniskillen, Omagh, and Belfast. On October 7, a couple of days before the measure received the royal assent, Sir James Craig, speaking in the Northern Parliament, said the unanimous policy of the Cabinet was that if the Boundary Commission came to a decision which could not be accepted by the Northern Parliament, he would resign and place himself at the disposal of the people to defend any territory that they considered to be unfairly transferred from them.

After the Confirmation of Agreement Bill became law, Mr. J. R. Fisher, a prominent Ulsterman and a former editor of the Northern Whig, Belfast, was appointed third Commissioner on October 24. The first meeting of the Commission took place in London on November 6, and a few weeks later its members made a tour of the border areas.

Like the Free State, the Northern Government have pursued during the year the policy of reducing the number of their political prisoners, and comparatively few internees now remain in custody. A certain amount of friction was created in February over the release of Mr. Cahir Healy, the Sinn Fein member for Tyrone and Fermanagh. He was re-arrested a few days after his discharge from Larne for having violated an order prohibiting him from entering his native town of Enniskillen, but a week later the Government withdrew the prohibition and the incident ended. More serious issues were raised by the Nixon affair which took place during the same month. A constabulary court of inquiry, summoned to investigate charges against District Inspector Nixon of having made a political speech at an Orange Lodge in contravention of disciplinary regulations, found that it had no authority to compel witnesses to attend. Having dissolved the court, the Minister for Home Affairs dismissed Mr. Nixon by administrative order, a decision which was strongly resented by a large section of the Orange Institution.

Nationalists in the Six Counties still maintain their attitude of refusing to recognise the Northern Government. The policy was given a new development in May by the decision in several counties to take no part in the election of local governing bodies. This boycott was organised as a protest against the scheme for the revision of electoral areas under which Nationalists allege that constituencies have been so parcelled out as to deprive them of their full voting power. While refusing to sit in the Belfast Parliament the Northern minority continued to send two members to Westminster for the joint constituency of Tyrone and Fermanagh. It was generally assumed that these seats would be retained by Nationalists in the elections that followed

the defeat of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald's Government. Mr. de Valera, however, willed otherwise. He announced his intention of putting up Republican candidates for one of the Belfast divisions and all the county constituencies, as a protest against the policy of partition. Northern Nationalist opinion which is strongly pro-Treaty was almost unanimously opposed to Republican intervention in the contests, the effect of which must be to split the vote in Tyrone and Fermanagh. Finally it was decided that Nationalists should abstain, with the result that the Republican candidates were hopelessly beaten in every constituency. As against a Nationalist poll of 44,000 in Tyrone and Fermanagh at the 1923 General Election, Mr. de Valera's nominees mustered only 6,800 votes, and Sir Charles Falls and Mr. J. A. Pringle, K.C., the Unionist candidates, were returned by large majorities.

By way of heartening his followers during the election campaign, Mr. de Valera, who is a member for Down in the Northern Parliament, determined to cross the border in order to address his constituents, though he was informed by the Belfast authorities that an order was in existence which prohibited him from entering certain areas in the Six Counties. Disregarding the warning he was arrested at Newry on October 25, and after being detained for the night was escorted by armed police over the border. A few days later he reappeared at Derry where he was again captured and sentenced to a month's imprisonment.

A welcome proof that those in authority are satisfied that the danger of outbreaks of disorder in the Six Counties is now negligible was the announcement during Christmas week that the Curfew Order which prohibited people from being abroad after midnight in any part of Northern Ireland had been revoked. Save for two brief intervals, Curfew restrictions had been enforced in Northern territory for nearly four and a half years.

The Northern Parliament did not attempt during the year legislation on the scale of the Education Act, the administration of which has given rise to keen controversy between the Ministry and the representatives of the various Protestant Churches. Many useful measures, however, were passed into law, not the least valuable being the Marketing of Eggs Act which, by licensing wholesale egg-dealers who agree to meet the requirements of the Government as to testing, grading, and packing, promises to have very profitable results for the farming community. The Loans Guarantee Acts have extended to 5,000,000l. the maximum amount which the Ministry of Finance is empowered to guarantee loans for carrying out works of a capital nature calculated to promote employment.

One of the notable events of the year was the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York who landed at Bangor on July 19. Their Royal Highnesses who were the guests of the Governor