A.—s

Health Organization. The outstanding feature of the work of this organization (Documents A. 7, A. 6, and A. 6 (a), Extract No. 1) is the growth of the system of sending deputations of experts on health questions to advise various Governments on problems of sanitation, rural hygiene, treatment of various diseases, and with regard to organization of their health services. Very full particulars are contained in the documents mentioned above. I would specially refer to the sending of a deputation, at the request of the Australian Government, to study the question of malaria and other diseases in the islands of the South Pacific and New Guinea. The investigations covered such diseases as yaws and hookworm, in addition to malaria. Far Eastern Bureau at Singapore. There is perhaps no field of the League's work in which overseas countries have received greater attention than in the work of the health organization. I might specially mention in this connection the Far Eastern Bureau established by the League at Singapore, which does work in the transmission of notifications of infectious disease and, in addition to acting as a centre for epidemiological intelligence, is becoming to an increasing degree the general agent in the East for the health work of the League. From this bureau help is being sent to China with a view to checking the outbreak of epidemics consequent on the great floods, and practical help (in the shape of medical stores, &c.) is also being afforded for this purpose by France, Denmark, and other countries, through the medium of the League. The report to the Assembly (Document A. 60) was adopted on the 24th September. Whaling. The question of whaling was dealt with by the committee at its meeting on 16th September. My representative made a statement as to the views of the New Zealand Government. The following summary of the statement will appear in the Minutes of the Committee. Mr. Burdekin (New Zealand) said that his Government was impressed with the necessity for international regulation of whaling, and was therefore prepared to sign the draft convention provided the text finally adopted did not differ materially from that drawn up by the Economic Committee in 1930. The New Zealand Government would have preferred to see the convention go further in several important respects, but recognized that the present proposals represented at least a first step. His Government had some doubts as to how far the proposed convention would prove effective. He emphasized that this would depend very largely upon the convention being ratified by all Powers, and not merely by those at present directly interested in whaling. If this were not done, the restrictions imposed upon themselves by a limited number of Powers signing the convention might quite probably lead the nationals of Powers not at present interested in whaling, and which had not therefore signed the convention, to take up whaling, and there would also be a danger of flag-transference by owners of whaling-vessels if the convention was not accepted generally. His Government regarded the proposed convention as defective, inasmuch as it imposed no limitation as to the total number of whales which might be killed in any one year, although it was recognized that it would perhaps have been premature to attempt to fix such a figure until more complete statistical information with regard to whaling was available. His Government also regretted what it regarded as a weakening of the original proposals for requiring all whaling-vessels to be licensed by their Governments. The provision which permitted mere notification as an alternative to obtaining a license would mean that not only would there be no restriction on the number of whales which might be killed, but not even any power to limit the number of vessels which might engage in whaling. He pointed out that limitation of the number of whales which might, be captured was in the interests of the whaling industry itself. The New Zealand Government was inclined to favour a close season for whales, as its experience had been that whales captured early in the season were usually in poor condition and that therefore their killing at such a time was a wasteful procedure. The period of the close season would, of course, require to be varied for different parts of the world. On the 24th August, the date of the New Zealand delegation's latest instructions from its Government, by cable, the New Zealand Government had not received Document E. 696, dated the Ist June, containing the observations of various Governments in regard to the draft Convention, and it was possible, of course, that the views of his Government might be slightly modified on certain points in consequence of those observations, but what he had said might be regarded as representing generally the views of his Government. Document A. 11/3, 1931, explains the alterations made in the draft text compiled by the Economic Committee in June, 1930. The report to the Assembly on the subject (Document A. 64) was adopted at its thirteenth session on the 24th September, and the convention was thereupon opened for signature. I signed the convention on behalf of New Zealand on the same day. Economic Matters. By far the greatest amount of the time of the Second Committee was occupied with the consideration of economic subjects. The committee had before it not only the report of the Economic Section of the League (Document C. 427, M. 177), but also two reports from the Commission of Inquiry for European Union (Documents A. 36 and A. 38), and a most interesting and important report from the Sub-committee of Economic Experts set up by the Commission of Inquiry for European Union (Document C. 510, M. 215). In spite, however, of the very great amount of study and hard work which has taken place on this subject, it is impossible to disagree with the view T expressed by the German delegate—viz., that no ideas or proposals of outstanding value as a remedy for the present

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