A.—2

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COMMISSION II COMMITTEE 3 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ARRANGEMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION NEW ZEALAND REPRESENTATIVES Delegate Rt. Hon. P. Eraser Alternate Mr. B. R. Turner The task assigned to this Committee was the consideration of those portions of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals which dealt with arrangements for international economic and social co-operation. 1 hese comprised the whole of Chapter IX and paragraphs 6 and 7 of Section B, Chapter V, in so far as these concerned economic, social, cultural, and other related questions. In addition, Committee 11/2 made recommendations to other technical committees, notably with reference to Chapter IV (Principal Organs) of the Dumbarton Oaks text. The Committee held in all twenty-one full sessions, the drafting sub-committee meeting on nineteen occasions. Virtually every question which came before it was most thoroughly debated, and, although some issues revealed marked differences of opinion which seldom lacked vigorous expression, all the recommendations embodied in the Committee's report were supported unanimously and the report itself was adopted without dissent or reservation, both by the Commission and the Conference. 1 his most successful result was due in substantial measure to the fact that all forty-nine members of the Committee shared a common purpose and a common anxiety to see that purpose fulfilled to the fullest possible extent in the course of their deliberations at San Francisco. One or two general observations on the results of these deliberations may not be out of place. First, they represent a substantial advance beyond the useful, though somewhat timid, proposals which emerged from Dumbarton Oaks. In contrast to the experience of many other Committees of the Conference, the Economic and Social Committee was not handicapped by the limitations and delays caused by the reluctance of the sponsoring Powers to accept or, indeed, to consider any serious departure from Dumbarton Oaks in so far as it affected such fundamental provisions, as, for example, the veto power of the Big Five. This fact was reflected in both the scope and the nature of the Committee's discussions, which embraced many matters of substance not specifically dealt with in the Dumbarton Oaks text and which were conducted for the most part in a free, frank, and thoroughly democratic manner. In discussing or voting on matters coming before them, members of the Committee seldom permitted considerations based on their special interests as " big" or " little" Powers or stemming from their particular regional or political affiliations to obtrude unduly upon the major consideration of reaching agreement on the best and most effective arrangements for future co-operation between the United Nations in economic, social, and related fields. They were conscious from the outset of having a positive task to perform. Representatives of the smaller countries, particularly, were conscious also of the fact that the Economic and Social Council would be one organ of the new world organziation in which they would be assured not only of an adequate voice, but also of a full and equal opportunity along with the great Powers of participating in decisions and of formulating, policies vitally affecting the course of world affairs. Consequently, while in general the Dumbarton Oaks proposals were considered unobjectionable in