A.—5 a.

available to tie Assembly, and my report on the Assembly will provide an opportunity for mentioning the more important work accomplished by the Health Committee during the present year. As President of the Council I submitted to my colleagues under cover of a report (Document C. 293, 1938, V) the annual printed document showing the position of ratifications of agreements and conventions concluded under the auspices of the League of Nations. This document, which is valuable for purposes of reference, forms an annex to the report on the work of the League for the year 1937-38,. and is numbered A.-6a, 1938, Annex 1. Consideration by the Council was a mere formality. The Council met for the third time, first in private and then in public, on the 17th September, when the following matters were under consideration : — Committee por Communications and Transit. The question before the Council was the appointment of a French citizen to fill the vacancy caused by the death of M. Silvain Dreyfus. The French Government proposed as candidate M. C. M. Grimpret, Vice-President of the General Council of Roads and Bridges, Vice-President of the Board of Administration of the French National Railway Company, and a member of the Higher Court of Arbitration. The representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics asked the Council to approve the selection of the French Government's nomination. The Council did so (see Document C. 308, 1938, VIII). Composition op the Health Committee. The United Kingdom member of the Health Committee, Dr. M. T. Morgan, having resigned, the Council was called upon to fill the vacancy thus created. As Rapporteur on Health Questions, and after complying with the usual preliminary formalities required by the regulations, I suggested the appointment of Dr. N. M. Goodman, Medical Officer of Health at the Ministry of Health in London. The Council approved my proposal (Document C. 301, 1938, III). Permanent Mandates Commission. The Rapporteur, the representative of Roumania, introduced his report (Document C. 310, 1938, VI) on the work of the Permanent Mandates Commission during its thirty-fourth session (see also Document C. 216, M. 119, 1938, VI). The Commission had examined the annual reports on a number of mandated territories and had made observations thereon, the territories under consideration, including Palestine, and it was on Palestine that those members of the Council who spoke concentrated. The spokesman for the United Kingdom, Mr. Butler, opened the discussion. He informed the Council that the Commission, under the chairmanship of Sir John Woodhead, appointed to examine the question of partition (a project which Mr. Butler said his Government considered offered the best and most useful solution of the problem presented by the conflict between Jews and Arabs), was preparing its report, in the light of which the United Kingdom Government would be able to make a final decision on policy. Dealing with the disturbances in Palestine, Mr. Butler stated that, unfortunately the situation showed no improvement. I should here remark that if press messages are to be taken as a guide, incidents, many of a grave, nature, are of almost daily occurrence. The Permanent Mandates Commission, when considering the question of Jewish immigration, had come to the conclusion that the present restriction on the admission of Jews had resulted in a partial suspension of the mandate. Mr. Butler said that his Government did not accept that interpretation, although he recognized that the Commission had not been animated by any contentious spirit. The representative of Poland, which country, owing to its immense Jewish population, has a special interest in the immigration of Jews into Palestine, expressed the hope that the mandatory Power wouldbe able to abolish the restriction on Jewish immigration as soon as possible ; although, at the same time, his Government recognized that so long as the fundamental problem of Palestine remained unsettled, a settlement of the Jewish immigration question was beset with difficulties. The Rapporteur, speaking for his own country, Roumania, stressed the importance of the immigration problem. Mr. Butler then quoted the following statement made by Mr. Eden when speaking in the Council Chamber in September, 1937 : — " I have nothing to add to my original statement except to make clear that in the view of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, the terms of the mandate contain nothing to preclude the mandatory Power from, imposing at any time such limitations on immigration as may be suitable in view of any temporary conditions affecting the territory at the moment." M. Rappard spoke on behalf of the Chairman of the Permanent Mandates Commission, who was unable to attend. He asked to be allowed to make clear the position of the Permanent Mandates Commission. It was the duty of the Commission, he said, to keep the Council informed of occurrences in the territory, and of any thing which related to the discharge of the terms of the mandates. Last year the Council's attention had been drawn to the limitation of Jewish immigration, a proceeding which had been described as exceptional and temporary. Mr. Eden had said that restriction.was a temporary measure, and added that, even if there had been a departure from principle, the Council would understand the reasons. The Permanent Mandates Commission had merely informed tbe Council in. its report under discussion that the circumstances which appertained last year still applied and remained an obstacle to the full discharge of the terms of the mandate. M. Rappard added that the matter was not regarded as one for controversy.

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