A.—5A,

ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. New Zealand Government Offices, 415 Strand, London, W.C. 2, 7th October, 1938. I have the honour to submit this my report on the one hundred and second session of the Council of the League of Nations, for which it fell to me to occupy the chair. Although the session was not formally declared open until the first public meeting on the 10th September there was a private meeting on the afternoon of Friday, the 9th, when the agenda (Document C. 257 (1), M. 153 (1), 1938) was under consideration. Notice was given of the addition of an item and of the withdrawal of another. M. Litvinoff (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) proposed the inclusion of the item " Committee for Communications and Transit : Report on the Work of its Twenty-first Session." This was agreed to. The Secretary-General proposed the withdrawal of Item 4, " Permanent Central Opium Board : Secretariat of the Board. A very important question was involved, and as the mandate of the present Board is about to expire it was thought better that the question should be discussed in the first instance by the incoming Board. This also was agreed to. With these modifications the agenda for the session was adopted. The Council then proceeded to the examination of the following items : Budgetary and Administrative Questions. (a) Transfer in the Budget for 1938. The President of the Council is authorized to approve transfers in the Budget subject to the confirmation of the Council. On this occasion the Council was called upon to confirm his action m respect of a transfer of 12,000 Swiss francs from Item 8 to Item 9 of the Budget (see Document C. 29 , 1938, X). . (b) Secretariat Appointments and Promotions since the last Session of the Council. A list of appointments (Document C. 273, 1938) was submitted by the Secretary-General and approved by the Council. Appointments. (a) Administrative Tribunal: Renewal of the Term of Office of a Judge and a Deputy Judge. This item, the document relating to which is numbered C. 279, 1938, has reference to the renewal of the appointment of M. Deveze and of M. de Tomcsanyi, Judge and Deputy Judge respectively of the Administrative Tribunal, which concerns itself with staff matters. The Council agreed to renewal of the appointments for a period of three years from 1939. (b) Investments Advisory Committee for the Endowment Fund of the League Library. This Advisory Committee is composed of three members, one of whom M. C. E. ter Meulen, the Dutch banker, has recently died. A vacancy had therefore to be fil ed and the Rapporteur the representative of China, proposed the appointment of M. Jean Reveillaud a Frenchman, who has been associated with the finances of the League from its earliest years. The Council approved. The report bearing on the subject is Document C. 289, 1938, X. (c) Appointment of a Trustee for the Austrian Government International Guaranteed Loan 1933-53 and the Austrian Government Guaranteed Loan 1934-59. It was necessary to fill a vacancy owing to the resignation of M. Amadeo Gambmo. The Rapporteur, the representative of Sweden, proposed a successor in the person of M. Maurice Frere, formerly Adviser to the National Bank of Austria. The Council agreed (see Document C. 29^, 1938, 11, A). (dj) Fiscal Committee. Two members of the Fiscal Committee (one of the Standing Committees of the League) having resigned, the Council was called upon to appoint successors The Rapporteur the representative of Sweden ' proposed for the filling of these vacancies M. Allahyer Saleh, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance, Teheran (Iran), and M. Sayid Umar Nadhmi, Director of the Department of State Revenue, Baghdad (Iraq). The proposal was agreed to by the Council. The appointments are for the unexpired period of office of the members who have resigned (see Document C. 287, 1938, 11, A). It should be noted that the new members are of the same nationality as the old. The Council met in public for the first time on the afternoon of Saturday, 10th September After I had formally declared the session open, the Council proceeded to the business, details of which are riven below. Perhaps I should state that I do not propose to deal at any length with items subsequently considered by the Assembly. Their reservation for treatment m the report on the Assembly has many advantages, and, further, duplication is avoided. Financial Committee : Report on the Work of its Sixty-sixth Session. This Committee, which is one of the Standing Committees of the League, has played an important part in the League work, especially during the anxious early post-war years. The Committee's report is Document C. 227, M, 129,1938, 11, A (Part I) and (Part II), and a few brief

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