A.—s.

COMMITTEE No. 1. Election to the Council. For some years there has been dissatisfaction amongst several nations with the methods which have governed the choice of candidates for election to the non-permanent seats of the Council. The right to claim re-eligibility for election during or at the end of the first period of service, coupled with the group system, which is influential in Geneva in more than one direction, has made it impossible for certain of the smaller nations not belonging to recognized groups to gain admission to the Council. This dissatisfaction has been voiced very strongly by Portugal, especially in 1931, when the Assembly by resolution asked the Council " to appoint a sub-committee to study the existing system of elections to the Council and to report to a future session of the Assembly on any reforms which may appear desirable." Early in 1932 a special committee was appointed. Its composition is given in its report (Document A. 8). Its deliberations showed some diversity of opinion amongst the members, for obviously there were only two direct methods of ending the dissatisfaction -modification of the working of the group system or an increase in the number of non-permanent seats on the Council. Some members were strongly opposed to the creation of more seats, arguing that the Council was already too large, and one cannot help expressing sympathy with this view. On the other hand, itwas suggested that the non-permanent seats should be increased by two. Eventually a compromise was effected, and the Special Committee recommended that " for the period commencing with the election of the non-permanent members of the Council at the Assembly's session of 1933, and ending with the election of the said non-permanent members in the year 1936, the number of non-permanent seats on the Council should be provisionally increased from nine to ten, on the understanding that, towards the end of that period, the question of the number of the members of the Council will be reconsidered and that all the members of the League will remain entirely free to propose any final solution of this question which they consider desirable." The Special Committee also made a recommendation regarding method of nomination. The First Committee was called together on the 26th September to consider the Special Committee's report. The proceedings were commendably brief. After the Chairman of the Special Committee had analysed the report, the recommendations embodied in it were unanimously approved without debate. The report to the Assembly is Document A. 31, and the draft resolutions with which it concludes were passed by the Assembly at its meeting on the 2nd October. On the 4th October the Council passed a similar resolution. Simplification of the Procedure of the Assembly. There is no doubt that there is room for simplification of the procedure of the Assembly, and the Secretariat has been engaged in the examination of possible means to this end. Simplification would lead to saving not only of time but of money. In my opinion, however, the best method to adopt in order to shorten the proceedings would be for the Assembly and its committees to introduce a rule limiting the speeches. Unfortunately a tendency has sprung up to translate a speech that has been read, rather than to summarize it in that of the two official languages which have not been used by the speaker, but a discussion of the language question involves a consideration of fundamental principles, and, besides, there is no doubt that the use of both French and English is of great convenience ; and, although the majority of the speeches are in French, several delegates having a knowledge of both languages prefer to use English. The First Committee had before it a note by the Secretariat (A. 1/2, 1933, V.), together with a motion of the Chairman introduced to form a basis of discussion. Consideration of the document, and especially of the motion, led to a somewhat lengthy debate. The motion provided that the Fourth Committee (Finance) of the Assembly, which has the heaviest work and is usually the last to complete its labours, should be convened by the Secretary-General one week before the opening of the session of the Assembly. I understand that those who initiated the proposal thought that by this means the sittings of the Assembly could be shortened to a period of about two weeks. Such an arrangement, if possible, would of course lessen the expense, but there are objections of principle. Personally I was not favourably inclined, because I thought time could be saved in other ways, especially if the members of the Fourth Committee would limit their speeches, and, above all, avoid repetition ; and, besides, it is impossible for the Fourth Committee to do some of its work until after the other committees have met. New Zealand was by no means alone in her objection. However, the motion, with certain amendments, was carried on the understanding that it was to apply as an experiment next year. It was accepted by the Assembly in the following form at its meeting on the 11th October :— " The Assembly decides that the following procedure shall be applied, as an experiment, at the ordinary session of 1934 : — " (1) The President of the Council, after consulting the Chairman of the Supervisory Commission, may convene the Finance Committee for a date preceding by not more than one week the first meeting of the ordinary session of the Assembly. The Committee shall be composed of the representatives accredited for the purpose by the members of the League. It shall appoint its Chairman, who shall thereby become a member of the General Committee of the Assembly under the terms of article 7 of the Rules of Procedure. The establishment of the Committee shall be reported to the Assembly at the first plenary meeting of the Assembly.

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