A.—s,

16

camel raids and taken into Abyssinia and there sold and disposed of, as has been the custom for, I suppose, hundreds of years. Tii the case of another Power which has African interests it is well known that a considerable amount of slavery exists in the hinterlands. The constant pressure of the League is, however, beginning to have its natural effect. The Abyssinian delegate was directed by his Government to say that the evil was being reduced, and it was hoped that before long it would disappear. Here is an excellent example of the usefulness of the League's work. No nation cares to be regarded as a black sheep. Consequently when, year after year, on a committee dealing with some great social evil, such as slavery or opium, a nation is haled before the bar of international public opinion, that nation cannot feel indifferent, or unrepentant for long. No sort of force, of course, is threatened on these occasions ; merely an intellectual and moral pressure is strongly exerted. I have been on more than one occasion struck by the effect that peaceful, persistent pressure of this sort has upon a recalcitrant country. For instance, T believe that in the realm of slavery the world is being quickly rid of the menace merely by the assertion of an overwhelming international public opinion against it at Geneva. Mandates. Part of the work of the Sixth Committee is the annual examination of the work of the Mandates Commission. Naturally, the New Zealand representative could not fail to watch with interest the discussion on the general question of mandates. Our own mandated territory Samoa has coriie before the Mandates Commission so frequently of late that one could not help being interested in the viewpoint that the committee of the Assembly took of the work of this very important Commission. You may remember that last year, so impressed was I with the thoroughness, patience, and tact of the Commission in dealing with the grave problem of Samoa, I ventured to express publicly the debt which the League and the various mandated countries owe generally to the Mandates Commission for the remarkably efficient manner in which it discharges its almost Herculean labours of maintaining an entirely novel kind of rule and government satisfactorily in so many parts of the globe ; and so it was a source of some satisfaction to find that the same high 'opinion of the Permanent Mandates Commission was held by this, an authoritative committee of the League of Nations. The committee expressed its views by. passing a resolution in which " it greatly appreciated the competence, impartiality, and common-sense with which the Commission's work has been carried out." Later on. the committee placed on record its appreciation of the good judgment of the Mandates Commission and the wisdom displayed by the Council as having been instrumental in removing so many of the difficulties naturally presented by the Mandates system, which, as I have already stated, is an innovation of government dealing with so many territories, all differing greatly m their social, political, and economic situations. Refugee Work. As you are aware, great things have been accomplished in the past by the League in regard to the removal of conquered and destitute peoples from territories where they were being ill-used and massacred to more congenial places of abode in Europe. The Armenians, who suffered so terribly from their Turkish overlords, have been the principal subjects of this work. One of the difficulties, however, is becoming apparent. It seems to me that the more the nations of the world do to transport these unhappy people to safer climes, the more they will be called upon to do. Naturally, therefore, the League, after spending, through its auspices, millions of money in transporting hundreds of thousands of these people from Asia to Europe, is manifesting a tendency to go slow on these schemes Still, however, the indefatigable Dr. Nansen, the High Commissioner for Refugees, before the committee this session, expressed the hope that the. League would definitely declare in favour of a scheme for the settlement of more Armenian refugees, this time in the Republic of Erivan. Already the Council had made an appeal to all the members of the League for financial support in favour of the scheme in question, and up to the present seventeen Governments had replied to the appeal, but only Germany and one or two others were disposed to contribute. The German Government gave a guarantee of £50,000, but their offer was made conditional upon four other Governments at least taking part in the work. Apparently the response from three or four other Governments (who alone made any offer at all) was not an impressive one. Later on Dr. Nansen stated that he had received from the Armenians in Europe the sum of £100,000 to go towards the realization of the scheme. After a lonp- discussion, in which it was pretty evident that the League as a whole was not very heartily in favour of the idea, it was decided that the Assembly be asked to allot merely the sum of 65,000 Swiss francs (that is, about £2,585) for the express purpose of meeting the administrative expenses of the settlement. I have little doubt that Dr. Nansen, with his very fine record in refugee work, will show his usual indefatigable spirit and endeavour to carry on this new task of bringing these Armenians to Erivan, even though his funds be limited so drastically. I imagine, however, that the signs are not wanting that the League will be less enthusiastic in the future "with regard to refugee work generally. Finally, I would report that the important activities of the League controlled by the bixth Committee undoubtedly are going steadily forward, and my opinion that the League of Nations is a useful world institution was at this session greatly reinforced by the happenings at_ this committee. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, C. J. Parr, The Right Hon. the Prime Minister, Wellington, New Zealand. High Commissioner. [Note— Copies of the documents referred to in the foregoing report have been placed in the General Assembly Library for convenience of reference.]

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