A.—sd.

Economic Depressions : Determination of a Procedure. This item had already come before the Council and is mentioned earlier in this report. It remained for the Council to approve the names of the body appointed to consider the question. The Rapporteur, the representative of Sweden, proposed a delegation of seven persons. This proposal was accepted by the Council, which passed the following resolution :— " The Council— Invites the following persons to serve on a Delegation to study and report on the measures which might be employed with a view to the prevention or mitigation of economic depressions : " Sir W. W. Riefler \ „ Sir Frederick Phillips / Fmailclal Committee : " Mr. F. KcDougall } Economic Committee : M. J. Rueff, Director of the ' Mouvement des Fonds ' at the Ministry of Finance, Paris : " Professor B. Ohlin, of the University of Stockholm : " Dr. 0. Morgenstern, Director of the Austrian ' Konjunktur ' Institut." Fiscal Committee—Report on the Work op its Seventh Session : Appointment op a Committee of Economists. This is another item which had already received consideration by the Council, who had approved the appointment of a small committee of economists to draw conclusions from the information collected during the inquiry on the behaviour of tax systems and to report thereon. In the opinion of the Rapporteur, the representative of Sweden, there should be a link between this small committee of economists and the delegation appointed to consider economic depressions. On the latter body will be found the names of two economists, Professor 0. Morgenstern, Director of the Austrian " Konjunktur Institut," and Professor B. Ohlin, of the University of Stockholm. The Rapporteur suggested that these should also serve on the Committee of Economists formed to advise the Fiscal Committee, together with three other economists in the persons of Professor E. Allix, Dean of the Faculte de Droit, Paris; Mr. R. G. Hawtrey, Treasury, London; and Professor G. M. Yerrijn Stuart, jun., of the University of Utrecht. The Rapporteur's proposal was approved by the Council (see Document C 59 1938, IIa.) Structure and Functions of the Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations. The report of the representatives of France, Poland, and Sweden (Document C. 61 (1), 1938, II) has reference to the composition of a committee to be set up in virtue of a resolution of the Assembly of 4th October, 1937. The Council approved of the nomination of the following :— A member from the United Kingdom : M. Georges Bonnet, Minister of State (France) : The Right Honourable S. M. Bruce, High Commissioner for Australia in London : M. T. Komarnicki, Minister Plenipotentiary, Permanent Delegate of Poland to the League of Nations : M. S. Osusky, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Czechoslovakia in Paris : M. C. Parra-Perez, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Venezuela in Berne : M. K. I. Westman, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Sweden in Berne, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations : Mr. Hume Wrong, Dominion of Canada Advisory Officer accredited to the League of Nations. The terms of reference of the committee are to consider the structure and functions of the economic and financal organization, more particularly with a view to extending the basis of international co-operation in the economic and financial spheres. International Assistance to Refugees. This question occupied a considerable proportion of the time of the 1937 Assembly, and occasionally feeling ran somewhat high. It is briefly dealt with in my report on that Assembly, which passed a resolution requesting the Council to draw up, or to cause to be drawn up before the next Assembly, a plan for international assistance to refugees. On the proposal of its Rapporteur, the respresentative of Bolivia, the Council decided to appoint a committee of three of its members to examine the question. For convenience of reference I quote the Council's resolution :— " The Council — " Approves the proposal submitted by its Rapporteur with a view to giving effect to the resolution adopted by the Assembly on October sth, 1937, regarding the preparation of a plan for international assistance to refugees ; Decides for this purpose to appoint a committee consisting of the representatives of Bolivia, the United Kingdom and France ; Requests this committee to submit to the Council at its next session a report on the questions relating to international assistance to refugees referred to the Council by the Assembly resolution."

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