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Inset

c V common plan " for the transfer of the League's assets to the atter body. The General Assembly of the United Nations had also adopted a resolution outlining the extent to which that organization was prepared to assume responsibility for the functions, both technical and non-technical, previously within the competence of the League. An additional factor contributing greatly to the expedition with which the work of the final Assembly was carried through was provided by the draft resolutions and papers on all the major items on the agenda which the United Kingdom delegation had prepared. These, the outcome of much serious and detailed study by United Kingdom officials, proved to be of immense value. 11. Generous recognition was given in the Assembly to the work of the Secretariat of the League during the war. The staff's loyalty to their tasks throughout a period of exceptional difficulty, and despite the extreme stringency of the League's financial situation, had enabled the valuable technical services of the organization to be maintained in such a condition that they can be transferred to the United Nations with the minimum loss of continuity. The Acting Secretary-General —Mr Sean Lester —and the Treasurer —Mr Seymour Jacklin —were specially mentioned. 12. The detailed consideration of the various agenda items was entrusted to two Committees —the first to deal with general questions and the second with financial and administrative matters. While it had hitherto been the custom of Committees of the Assembly to elect their own Chairmen, on this occasion the Chairmen were proposed by the Nominations Committee —M.M. Bourquin (Belgium) for Committee I, and Sir Atul Chatterjee (India) for Committee 11. The subjects dealt with by these Committees and the decisions thereon which were made by the Assembly were as follows : Dissolution of the Permanent Court of International Justice 13. Like the League, the Permanent Court of International Justice found itself, at the time of the Assembly meeting, with a successor (the International Court of Justice established by the United Nations) already in existence and functioning. It remained only for the League to give to the old Court its official quietus. There was some discussion outside the Assembly as to the competence of the League to dissolve the Court in view of the fact that certain States, not members of the League, were parties to the Statute establishing the Court, but the facts of the situation, coupled with the general desire to make a tidy job of the liquidation, outweighed in Committee and in the Assembly itself any such /legal arguments.