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New Zealand was appointed to the ad hoc Committee on Observers. New Zealand, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and the Philippines, in addition to the members of the Central Committee, were appointed to the General Committee, where the business of the session is decided. Due to the shortness of the Council session and in order to expedite its business, most of the work was handled in plenary session. However, the Committee on Policy had two very important questions before it: — (1) Item II of the Agenda : Consideration of the delegation of authority to the Central Committee in connection with the termination of the Administration's activities and an amendment to the UNRRA Agreement with respect to the requirement of a further Council session. (2) A resolution submitted by the U.S.S.R. relating to the fulfilment of the Programmes of Operations. It quickly became clear that the Soviet representative and other members of the Slav bloc were determined to make these the crucial issues of the session. On both points the Soviet delegate differed repeatedly from the United States delegate on the question of continuation of supplies to Europe after 31 December, 1946, and on the issue of displaced persons. A proposal to enlarge the Central Committee was dependent on the Administration's proposal that no further Council sessions should be held and that the Central Committee should take over the functions of the Council. The Soviet delegation's motion that the Council should hold its next and final meeting in April, 1947, was so directly opposite to the Administration's suggestion that the debate in plenary session showed no avenue of compromise. An ad hoc sub-committee was therefore appointed on the intervention of the Chairman of the Policy Committee. The sub-committee consisted of the members of the Council of the United States, the United Kingdom, the U.S.S.R., Norway, China, Czechoslovakia, Brazil, Australia, and Poland. The debate in the sub-committee was extremely vigorous, but eventually a compromise report was presented by the subcommittee and adopted as a resolution of the session. (The text of the resolution (No. 116) is set out in Annex 2.) There was even more difficulty in resolving the different points of view on the implementation of programmes, and it was not until the final plenary session that the sub-committee was able to recommend a draft resolution on which the Committee was agreed. Even then the Soviet representative made it clear that it was a compromise and that his delegation was still critical of the fulfilment of programmes by supplying countries. (The text of the resolution (No. 114) is set out in Annex 2.) The question of displaced persons kept cropping up throughout the session and was the occasion for some very frank talking both on the part of the Soviet and other Slav delegates and of the Director-General. Even on an apparently harmless resolution expressing appreciation of the work of voluntary agencies, the Soviet delegate indicated that it was not to be understood that this resolution referred to certain voluntary workers who had created trouble among displaced persons. The Soviet delegation insisted that some resolution be drafted regarding displaced persons, and eventually a resolution in terms which are set out in Annex 2 (Resolution No. 112) was approved. The non-fulfilment of a Council resolution concerning the Korean programme was also the occasion for forthright debate to which both the Slav bloc and the DirectorGeneral contributed. Both sides, however, were content to leave their remarks on record, and no attempt was made to press for any further study of the situation in Korea. Minor issues were quickly disposed of, Canada's application for membership on the Committee of the Council for the Far East being accorded unanimous support. The Director-General's resignation was marked by a most cordial display of appreciation

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