A.—s

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the Secretariat and the International Labour Office was proposed by the committee. The resolutions contained in the report of the Fourth Committee, and the estimates, with the addition noted below, were approved by the Assembly at its meeting on the 29th September. During the discussion of the Budget a proposal was made by the French Delegation to vote an additional 50,000 francs for the work, of intellectual co-operation, although a sum of 75,000 francs had been included in the original Budget, and a further amount of 50,000 francs in the supplementary estimates. Many members of the Assembly protested strongly against the motion being made after the question had been thoroughly discussed by the Fourth Committee and had, it was thought, been disposed of. The rapporteur stated that ho was in sympathy with the work of intellectual co-operation, but he asked the French Delegation to withdraw its motion, which, however, it refused to do. A vote was taken in consequence, 25 States voted for and 12 against, tho result being that 50,000 francs was added to the Budget which, in tho present state of the finances of tho League, it is quite incapable of bearing. In the course of the debate the motions wore voted on singly and in numerical order, but before the close one of the delegates for Sweden rose and stated that he questioned the legality of the vote respecting intellectual co-operation. He thought that to be effective the motion should have been adopted unanimously, and he suggested that the matter should be referred to tho Council for decision. The President, in reply, stated that he thought he had been in order, but that he very willingly fell in with the proposal of the Swedish delegate, and the incident terminated. COMMITTEE No. 5. Opium and Dangerous Drugs. —The question of opium and dangerous drugs was not productive of. the same controversy as last" year. At the same time, it still attracted considerable attention in Committee No. 5 owing to the divergent interests of the different countries. The question really falls into two parts, that of the trade in opium and that of the manufacture and trade in dangerous drugs. The question of the growth and export"of opium does not really affect New Zealand. It is only of importance in Oriental countries, and. Western countries arc only affected in so far as they are concerned in the trade. The question of morphia and cocaine is different. Besides being a constituent in useful drugs, their illegitimate consumption is a growing problem among white peoples. The peculiar nature of the problem in regard to them is that their production can be easily controlled, since it is conducted in highly organized factories with the help of highly trained chemists. The moment, however, that quantities are made and sold in excess of the, amounts required for actual medical practice, the potency and the value of both drugs in relation to their bulk is so great that leakage for illegitimate uses and smuggling cannot be prevented. It is obvious, therefore, that if the use of morphia and cocaine (and their derivative drugs) is to bo properly controlled a proper estimate of the amounts required by different countries for their legitimate requirements is the first essential. Limitation of production to the total of amounts so ascertained must come later. The work of the League of Nations with regard to the whole subject is carried on by the permanent staff together with the permanent Advisory Committee. A copy of the report (Document No. A. 15) made by the latter is attached, as also of the report of the Fifth Commission with their recommendations, which were adopted by the Assembly on the 19th September (Document No. A. 69). It will be seen that recommendations 3 and 4 deal with the point mentioned above, but there is some reason to apprehend that the inquiries to be made into " legitimate requirements" may not be wholly satisfactory. Tho system of import and export certificates mentioned in recommendations 1 and 2 is principally designed to regulate the trade in opium. New Zealand, has already expressed her concurrence in tho general principle of tho export certificate, and may be asked also during the coming year to assent to a slight extension of the system. Action required: (1.) An answer is expected with regard to the adoption by the New Zealand Government of the particular form of import and export certificate suggested by the League. This answer is perhaps now on its way, as there has been hardly time to receive it as yet. (2.) An extension of the principle of import and export certificates is under consideration, but, if it is approved, notice will be sent specially to tho New Zealand Government later. (3.) An inquiry will probably be addressed to the New Zealand Government in the course of the following year asking for an estimate of the amount of opium, morphia, cocaine, and their derivatives required legitimately by the Dominion for internal consumption, together with a statement of the method by which the estimate has been reached. Esperanto. —The, report of the Secretariat to the Committee on Esperanto (No. A. 5 (1)) is a most interesting document, and almost would persuade even an unbeliever to be an Esperantist. It is worth reading. It was, however, obviously one-sided and written by an enthusiast. Subsequently corrections were made in it, and some very mild and sober resolutions were ultimately submitted to tho Assembly and passed. These are contained in the report to the Assembly presented by Senator Reynald, the delegate of France. His report (Document No. A. 81) gives a very good resume of the discussion. It is difficult to add anything to it, except to state the general impression that it will be long before the adoption becomes general of Esperanto as an additional language. The resolutions with which the committee's report concludes wore, passed by the Assembly at its meeting on the 21st September, No. 1 unanimously, No. 2 with two dissentients. Prisoners of War. —Dr. Nansen further presented his report (Document No. A. 32) as High Commissioner in charge of the Repatriation of Prisoners of War, in which he announced the conclusion