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Assistance to Indigent Fobeigneks. For a history of this matter so far as it concerns the League I refer you to the report of Fifth Committee to the Assembly (Document A. 50), and this should be read in conjunction with the report of the Temporary Committee of Experts which, by resolution of the Council of the League, was created to study the means of assistance to indigent foreigners and the execution of maintenance obligations abroad (Document C. 10, M. 8). The Committee of Experts made fourteen recommendations and drew up a draft Multilateral Convention on Assistance to Indigent Foreigners. This was submitted to some seventy Governments for their observations, but, as only twenty had replied, the Fifth Committee felt it was impossible to take any decision, and it therefore submitted to the Assembly a motion, the essential part of which is as follows :— '• The Assembly, — . "Expresses the hope that those Governments which have stated that they are m favour of the fourteen recommendations will apply them at the earliest possible moment, "Instructs the Secretary-General to request those Governments which have not yet sent their observations on this subject to send them to the Secretariat of the League as as soon as possible, and to submit those observations to the Committee of Experts tor examination at its next session. This was accepted by the Assembly at its meeting on the 26th September. Opium. I invite your attention to the Fifth Committee's report to the Assembly (Document A. 51). It is not merely a review of work recently done, but an exposition of that branch of the League s activities which is concerned with the suppression of the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs. Ihe Secretariat is to be congratulated, but, at the same time, we must recognize that it is only the loyal co-operation of Governments who are determined to carry out the Conventions, both m spirit and in letter which has made possible the excellent progress shown in the report. At any rate, the work of the organization is such that I think the Rapporteur is justified in assuming that, given the opportunity, the League can perform equally good work in other spheres having an international With the improvement in administration, rendered possible by the coming into force of the 1931 Convention, there is every reason to be proud. I am not certain, however that the position is so satisfactory in regard to the production of raw opium. There is no doubt that narcotics are manufactured much more extensively than the most liberal requirements of the legitimate trade justify and until Governments are able to enforce limitation of areas of cultivation of the poppy the illicit traffic will remain a difficult problem to solve. References to the illicit traffic under the heading " Clandestine Manufacture " in the Committee's report, are very illuminating ; indeed, an important seizure recently effected at Hong Kong was disclosed at one of the meetings of the Committee For other aspects of the control of narcotics I refer you to the report, which is one of the most readable documents issued by the League. It received the approbation of the Assembly on the 27th September. SIXTH COMMITTEE. Admission op Russia. The question of the admission of Russia was very prominent in the early days of the session, and I have already mentioned Mr. De Valera's reference to it m the debate on the SecretaryGeneral's report. The papers were referred to the Sixth Committee by the Assembly on the morning of the 17th September. These papers consist (1) of an invitation to Russia to join the League, signed by the representatives of thirty States, the reply of Mr Litvmofi to the invitation, and a letter from the representatives of Denmark, Finland Norway, and Sweden, who would have signed the invitation had it emanated from the Assembly itself (Document A 34) ; and I (2) a letter from the President of the Council announcing that the Council had decided to appoint the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics to be a permanent member of the Council as soon as its admission to the League had been agreed to by the Assembly (Document A. 35). On the afternoon of the 17th September the Sixth Committee met. There was considerable excitement and the Committee-room was full, delegates being strongly represented, and the SMC and press galleries being full to overflowing The debate was on a high level and reminded me of the great debates of the earlier days of the League, when enthusiasm, ran hi e h. At the conclusion of the debate in the Sixth Committee thirty-eight countries voted for admission ; there were seven abstentions, and three countries voted against admission. The countries comprising the last-mentioned group were Holland, Portugal, and Switzerland and their representatives gave reasons for the decision to cast a negative vote. In the mind of the objectors the danger of communist propaganda was. ever present. Could the admission of the U.S.S.R. be reconciled with the position in which several members of the League found themselves, not yet having recognized Soviet Russia de jure? That was the question How did the League stand in relation to resolutions of early sessions of the Assembly regardmg Georgia, Armenia, and the Ukraine 2 These and other points, very ably made, particularly by. M. Motta, the .Swiss delegate (who received a great ovation at the conclusion of his speech), were replied to^by, the representative of France M. Barthou maintained that, in admitting Russia, the members of the League wluld be acting in the principle of the Covenant; and that it was far preferable to have a

2—A. 5.

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