cultural exhibitions were held at Reval, Dorpat, and other places. An industrial and commercial exhibition at Reval also showed the economic improvement of the country. State industries, such as the production of slate and peat, have made good progress. On the other hand, more goods were imported than exported. The general consolidation of the economic and political condition of the country has been unfavourable to Communist activity.

FINLAND.

On March 17 the representative of Finland at the Conference of the Baltic States in Warsaw, the Foreign Minister, Dr. Holsti, signed the Accord politique with Poland, Latvia, and Esthonia. The Finnish Diet, however, refused to ratify this agreement. A vote of censure on Dr. Holsti brought about the fall of the Cabinet of the Centre, and on June 2 a Ministry of Officials was formed as a Provisional Government. On July 1 elections took place to the Diet. There were elected 27 Communists, 53 Social Democrats, 45 members of the Agrarian Union, 35 of the Party of National Concentration, 15 of the National Progressive Party, and 25 of the Swedish People's Party. The Diet met on September 1. After two months of negotiations a Cabinet of the Agrarians and Progressists was formed under the Presidency of the President of the Diet, M. Kyösti Kallio.

Among the legislative work of the Diet should be mentioned the Agrarian Law, called "The Kallio Law," the new Law on Conscription, and a Law on religious liberty, which was to come into force on January 1, 1923.

The economic situation improved during the year. The Finnish mark has been standardised. The balance of trade showed for the first time in the history of Finland-a surplus of exports over imports amounting to 508,000,000 of Finnish marks. The Agricultural Exhibition at Tampere (Tamersfors) in June also showed the economic progress of the country.

The relations with Sweden have improved since the settlement of the question of the Aaland Island in 1921. But there is no sign yet of a genuine rapprochement to Sweden. Nor is there any inclination to draw closer to the Baltic-Polish combinations. During the year some progress was made in the settlement of questions arising out of the Treaty with Soviet Russia concluded on October 14 at Dorpat.

With the support of the Soviet Government the Finnish "Reds," who after their suppression in 1918 escaped to Russia, have been conducting an intensive Communistic propaganda against the present constitution of Finland. A band organised by the Bolsheviks crossed the Finnish frontier and in the villages Savukoski and Kuolajärvi looted money and food to the value of several million marks.

The Karelian question has not been settled. The League of

Nations to which Finland had submitted this question has ordered an inquiry. Finland took part in the Disarmament Conference in Moscow. A Commercial Treaty has been concluded with Esthonia. Negotiations with the Norwegian Government concerning the regulation of the frontier have not come to any result.

In June a Finnish University was opened in Turku (Abo). During the summer a Congress of Journalists of the Northern Countries and an International Congress of Esperanto took place in Helsingfors.

LATVIA.

During the summer the Constitutional Assembly finally drew up and adopted the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. On October 7 and 8 the elections to the first Latvian Parliament took place. A hundred deputies were elected: 31 Socialists of the Left, 7 Socialists of the Right, 13 members of the Democratic Centre, 6 members of the Lettgall Christian Peasantry Union, 18 members of the Peasantry Union, 8 members of the Christian National Union, and 15 members of the National Minorities, viz., 6 Germans, 5 Jews, 3 Russians, and 1 Pole. The Parliament met on November 7 and elected as President of the Republic M. J. Tchakste, until then President of the Constitutional Assembly. The election was unanimous. The difficulties of forming a Cabinet supported by a majority in Parliament had not been overcome at the close of the year owing to the splitting up of the bourgeois representatives into numerous parties. The old Cabinet under the Presidency of M. Meierovics, who still retained the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, has therefore remained in power.

On July 28 Latvia was recognised de jure by the United States. On March 27 a Commercial Treaty with Germany was signed, but it has not yet been ratified pending the outcome of negotiations concerning the Latvian claims for compensation for war damages. Commercial treaties have also been concluded with Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and negotiations have been conducted with the object of concluding similar treaties with France, Great Britain, and the Scandinavian countries. A Concordat has been concluded with the Holy See. During the year Latvia participated in various political Conferences, as for instance, the Conference of the Baltic States which took place in March in Warsaw and ended with the adoption of the Accord politique between Latvia, Poland, Esthonia, and Finland. This instrument has been ratified by all States represented at the Conference save only Finland. Latvia also attended the Disarmament Conference convoked by Soviet Russia. The Baltic States were in complete agreement at this Conference.

With regard to the economic situation, the creation of the Latvian Bank (Latvijas banka) and the establishing of a gold

standard should be specially mentioned. The Latvian bank began activities on November 1 and has already issued the first provisional Latvian notes, the so-called Lats which can be exchanged against gold. The Lat equals 100 centimes, or 1 gold franc or 50 Latvian Roubles (of the former standard). These roubles are in time to be withdrawn from circulation.

LITHUANIA.

The efforts of the League of Nations during the year 1922 to settle the Lithuanian-Polish conflict concerning Vilna have failed to satisfy the aspirations of the Lithuanians. The Council of the League of Nations dealt with this question in January, and it was decided to withdraw the Military Mission of Control within one month. The Lithuanian and Polish representatives were requested to agree to substitute a provisional line of demarcation for the existing neutral zone. The Council took notice of the protest of the Lithuanian Government against the elections in the Vilna district (see ANNUAL REGISTER, 1921, p. 202). Finally, the Council declared that they would not recognise any solution of a dispute submitted to the League by one of its members which may be reached without regard to the recommendation of the Council or without the consent of both the parties concerned.

The Lithuanian Delegation refused to accept this resolution, and declared that the substitution of a line of demarcation for the neutral zone would not improve the situation of the local population and lead to frontier troubles. The actual position was that Poland so far has remained in possession of Vilna and that elections to the Polish Seim took place there towards the end of the year.

During the year Lithuania was recognised de jure by the United States and by the Council of Ambassadors in Paris. A Commercial Treaty was concluded with Great Britain, and negotiations have been carried out to conclude a similar Treaty with Germany.

The outstanding feature of the internal history of Lithuania during the year were the elections to the first Lithuanian Seim. The Minorities (Jews, Germans, and Poles) complained that owing to abuses in the procedure of elections by the administrative bodies they lost the number of seats allotted to them in accordance with the proportional system of elections.

M. A. Stuginskas, former Head of the Constitutional Assembly, was elected to the post of President of the Republic. The German and Jewish deputies did not participate in the elections, thus protesting against the unfriendly attitude towards the Minorities. The Social-Democrats and National Socialists also boycotted the election of the President.

The economic position of Lithuania has continued satisfactory. The balance of trade was active; in the period January to September the imports amounted to 1,957,214,000 marks,

and the exports to 2,398,666,850 marks. Flax production, which is monopolised by the State, has proved a profitable revenue. A gold standard has been established, the unit being the litos, which is equivalent in value to a tenth of a dollar.

POLAND.

The year 1922 in Poland was marked mainly by further efforts for the improvement of the economic and financial conditions of the country. Politically, the year will be remembered as one in which the struggle for the final establishment of definite frontiers came to an end with the reunion to Poland of the provinces of Wilno and Upper Silesia.

On January 8 the elections to the Wilno Parliament, which was to determine the fate of the province, took place and resulted in an overwhelming Polish majority. Two days later, the customs-union between Poland and Danzig, agreed upon in the preceding year, came into operation, thus knitting closer the ties between Poland and her only outlet to the sea. On the same day the Warsaw Constituent Parliament assembled again after the recess. On February 20, the Wilno Diet voted unanimously for reunion with Poland, and a delegation was sent to Warsaw to negotiate the exact terms of the Act of Union. This brought matters to a head in Poland, where the conflict upon this issue between the parties of the Right and Left led to the resignation of the Ponikowski Cabinet (March 3). Through the intervention of Marshall Pilsudski, the Chief of State, the conflict was settled. M. Ponikowski was on March 27 again entrusted with the formation of a Cabinet. Twenty representative deputies of the Wilno Diet were admitted into the Polish Parliament and on the 28th the Wilno Diet was dissolved after having completed its task. The final stage in this question was reached when on April 18 the Act of Reunion of Wilno to Poland was signed in Warsaw.

During the month of March an International Sanitary Conference assembled in Warsaw, on the initiative of the League of Nations, to consider ways and means for combating epidemics in Europe.

A month earlier, on February 6, the Franco-Polish Treaty, containing a political agreement and commercial convention was signed in Paris, and when on May 12 the Polish Parliament ratified this Treaty the very friendly ties between the two countries were considerably strengthened. This Treaty was one of a series; it was preceded by a Treaty of Friendship with Rumania, while soon afterwards the rapprochement of Poland and the Baltic States found its practical expression in the Warsaw Conference which opened on March 13 with the participation of Poland, Finland, Lettland, and Esthonia. The outcome of this Conference was an Agreement signed on March 17 which provided for the amicable co-operation of the States

interested in all matters affecting their common welfare. This series of agreements with her immediate neighbours, completed by an Agreement with Czechoslovakia, established Poland's foreign relations on a definitely peaceful basis and enabled her delegates to play a useful part at the great international Conference at Genoa where M. Skirmunt, the chief delegate of Poland, was elected on the Principal Political Commission.

Meanwhile the question of Upper Silesia was on a fair way to final settlement. After the award of the League of Nations in December, 1921, a Polish-German Conference was arranged to elaborate an agreement upon the basis of the League's decision. The Conference was opened at Geneva on February 6, and after three months' labours reached an agreement which was signed on May 15. Within thirty days, on June 15, Poland formally received that part of Upper Silesia which was allotted to her, and after the procés verbale was signed, Polish troops entered Katowice on June 19. On June 29 Polish authority extended over the whole of the newly acquired province. conformity with her pledge, Poland granted a wide measure of local self-government to Silesia, and the provincial Silesian Diet was duly elected and opened on October 9.

In

Towards the close of the first half of the year the latent Cabinet crisis came to a head. It was caused by a difference of opinion between the Cabinet and the Chief of State, Marshal Pilsudski. The latter considered the Ponikowski Government unsuited to supervise the first General Elections, and this difference of opinion led to the resignation of the Ponikowski Cabinet on June 2 and soon resolved itself into a fierce parliamentary conflict. The instability of political parties, which made a parliamentary majority impossible, was responsible for the continuance of the crisis for nearly two months. The parties of the Left supported the Chief of State, while those of the Right opposed him with equal ardour. None of the two, however, was able to secure any permanent support from the Centre, which remained undecided throughout the crisis, siding alternately with the one or the other.

The outcome was the non-party Government of M. Nowak, formed on July 27, which remained in office for nearly five months.

Meanwhile, the Constituent Assembly had completed its task of framing the Constitution of the Republic by passing, on July 28, the Electoral Law, and the first General Elections in Poland were fixed by the Chief of State for November 5 for the Seym (Lower Chamber) and November 12 for the Senate (Upper Chamber). On September 19 the Constituent Parliament assembled for its last solemn session, coming to an end after four years of strenuous labours. Its last act was to pass the Home Rule Bill for Eastern Galicia.

The elections for the first ordinary Parliament were held on the appointed day and passed off in perfect order, in spite of

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