A. —5

I have commented somewhat at length on these proceedings because they show how necessary it is that an international organization such as the League should be governed by regulations which, whilst sufficiently elastic to prevent needless obstruction, should at the same time be definite in their aim and framed in the interests of businesslike procedure. The Budget of the Health Section was debated at considerable length by the Fourth Committee. The Supervisory Commission, after examining the minutes of the Second Committee, proposed an increase of 5,000 francs on the item " Sanitary notifications, &c.," and to increase the vote for expenses in connection with the interchange of personnel to 150,000 francs. The latter suggestion, whilst acceptable to some, was resisted by others, who felt that the work of special investigation and conferences was being unduly neglected, and that if further money were made available it would be better to spend it in completing this technical work than in providing it for use in the event of the Rockefeller Foundation not making further subscriptions. A compromise was suggested by the chairman of the Supervisory Committee to divide 100,000 francs equally between special investigations and exchange of personnel. Unfortunately, two other motions had priority, and as the second of them was carried the compromise was not put to the vote. As a consequence, the Budget of the Health Section was increased as follows : Sanitary notifications and notifications in case of epidemics, from 10,000 to 15,000 francs; special investigations and technical conferences, from 92,000 to 142,000 francs ; expenses in connection with a system of liaison between the various National Public Health Services, from 75,000 to 150,000 francs. The Budget of the Section, as passed by the Fourth Committee, therefore amounts to 808,300 francs. Health questions are of great importance —indeed, the Covenant recognizes that they come within the scope of the League's activities. There is, however, a danger lest the Budget of the Health Section should outgrow its proper proportion as compared with the Budgets of other technical organizations, and careful watch will have to be kept on the activities of the Section. The series of resolutions with which Document A. 70 concludes was passed by the Assembly at its meeting on Saturday, 20th September. Intellectual Co-operation. The documents dealing with this subject are A. 8 (pages 88-92), A. 19, A. 20, A. 21, A. 29, A. 31, A. 64, A. 66, and C. 3, M. 3. That the Committee on Intellectual Co-operation is doing good work in some respects cannot be denied, although I have always doubted whether its operations come within the sphere of the League. So vast is the field that it can cover, given the necessary financial support, that every new project which is submitted in its name will have to be carefully scrutinized lest the League is involved in an expenditure which could not be justified in view of the present bad economic and financial position of so many countries. Already there are signs, on the one hand, of hasty development, and on the other of difficulty. It will be remembered that last year the Assembly decided that an appeal should be addressed to States members of the League for financial support. Except from one quarter that appeal had not borne any result. The exception was France, which had offered the committee a permanent institute in Paris and an annual subsidy of 1,000,000 francs. The resolutions accepted by the Assembly (Document A. 66) cover problems relating to scientific property (for a conference in connection with which the Assembly voted a sum of 8,000 francs); the co-ordination of bibliographical work in physics (the Assembly voted 8,000 francs for an extension of the work to other science, especially social science) ; the formal recognition of the work of, and an agreement for co-operating with, the International Institute of Bibliography in Brussels, and a recommendation to States which have not already done so to give partial adherence to the Brussels Convention of 1886, and a further recommendation to accept a new convention for the exchange of literary and scientific publications, the text of which will be found on page 26 of Document A. 31 ; while other resolutions refer to university questions and to travelling facilities for students. The resolution which excited most interest, and some misgiving, related to the gift of the French Government referred to above. Whatever individual members of the committee thought of the gift, their hands were tied, for it had already been accepted in principle by the Council, which had, however, asked the Assembly to define the functions of the Institute, its administration and its relations with existing institutes, having regard to the necessity for maintaining its autonomy. While many speakers were at great pains to express their admiration of the gift, they could hardly conceal their anxiety lest, in course of time, the Institute should lose its international character and become a centre for the dissemination of French culture and ideas. The task of the committee in reconciling many conflicting elements seemed at one time to be almost impossible of accomplishment, but finally a small sub-committee, representative of the main views which had been expressed in the course of the debate, and specially set up for the purpose, produced a draft resolution (No. 8), which after undergoing slight modification at the hands of the committee, was passed. Safeguards are provided in the resolution, but it remains to be seen whether in practice they will achieve their object. In my own opinion the Council, in accepting this gift, has created the unfortunate precedent of allowing an organ of the League to have its seat away from Geneva, a precedent which might be inconvenient should other offers of a like nature be made. As a matter of fact, a similar offer (referred to later in this report) was subsequently made by the Italian Government. One speaker went so far as to describe the principle thus established as a weakening of the influence of the League in an important sphere of international co-operation. The committee's report was presented to the Assembly on the 23rd September, and the discussion thereon occupied the whole morning. Mr. Charlton, one of the Australian delegates, strongly protested against the acceptance by the Council of the French gift of an institute and of the means of running it. In both Committees No. 2 and No. 4 Mr. Charlton had stated he was prepared

5