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1934. NEW ZEALAND.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND ON THE FOURTEENTH ASSEMBLY OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS, HELD AT GENEVA, IN THE YEAR 1933.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

FOURTEENTH ASSEMBLY OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. New Zealand Government Offices, 415 Strand, London W.O. 2, 6th November, 1933. Sib, — I have the honour to advise that the Fourteenth Assembly of the League of Nations was opened on Monday, 25th September, by His Excellency Monsieur Mowinckel, delegate of Norway, who, at the same time, was Acting-President of the Council, then in session. Opening of Pboceedings. It would not be just to describe M. Mowinckel's speech as entirely pessimistic in tone, for he was able to refer to matters in which the League had been very helpful during the year under review, and particularly to the award of the Permanent Court of International Justice on the Eastern Greenland case, but he mentioned in somewhat plain terms the want of positive achievements by the World Economic Conference and the Disarmament Conference, and spoke of the spread of disillusionment and discouragement : and there is disillusionment and discouragement even amongst the warmest supporters of the League. This feeling is not lessened when the financial position of the League is taken into consideration. M. Mowinckel's speech is available for all to read, and is well worth reading. The proceedings of the first and second meetings of the Assembly followed the normal course. A committee was appointed to examine the credentials of the delegates, and after it had reported the President was elected. The Assembly chose to fill this important post with Mr. C. te Water, High Commissioner for South Africa in London and his country's principal delegate in Geneva. This is the second time that a representative of one of the Oversea Dominions has acted in the capacity of President. Tributes were paid to the memory of the late Count Apponyi and M. de Aguero y Bethancourt, who had been associated with the League from its infancy. The agenda was examined and adopted, and an Agenda Committee appointed with a view of deciding whether any new subjects proposed should be placed on the agenda. Six Vice-Presidents were elected, i.e. : — Sir John Simon .. . . . . . . .. .. United Kingdom. M. Daladier .. . . . . . . . . . . France. Baron von Neurath .. . . .. . . . . Germany. Baron Aloisi .. .. .. .. .. .. Italy. M. Castillo Najera . . . . . . . . . . Mexico. Ali Khan Foroughi . . .. .. . . . . Persia. Six committees are usually appointed to deal with those items of the. agenda which do not require consideration solely by the Assembly, but this year, as last, the Third Committee (which deals with disarmament) was not constituted in view of the fact that the Disarmament Conference was still

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