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REPORT OF THE NEW ZEALAND DELEGATION TO THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS APRIL - MAY, 1947 New Zealand Legation, Washington, D.C. 29 May, 1947 The Right Honourable Peter Fraser, P.C., C.H., Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, Wellington, New Zealand. Sir, — I have the honour to append hereto a report on the Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations which opened at Flushing Meadows, New York, on 28 April, 1947. The New Zealand delegates were Sir Carl Berendsen and Mr. John S. Reid. The Session was called in response to the request of the United Kingdom, acting under Article 4 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure, in a letter addressed to the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations in the following terms r " His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to place the question of Palestine on the Agenda of the General Assembly at its next regular Annual Session. They will submit to the Assembly an account of their administration of the League of Nations Mandate and will ask the Assembly to make recommendations, under Article 10 of the Charter, concerning the future government of Palestine. " In making this request, His Majesty's Government draw the attention of the Secretary-General to the desirability of an early settlement in Palestine and to 1 the risk that the General Assembly might not be able to decide upon its recommendations at its next regular Annual Session unless some preliminary study of the question had previously been made under the auspices of the United Nations. They therefore request the Secretary-General to summon, as soon as possible, a special Session of the General Assembly for the purpose of constituting and instructing a Special Committee to prepare for the consideration, at the regular Session of the Assembly, of the question referred to in the preceding paragraph." Thirty-nine nations responded to the notice of the Secretary-General inquiring whether they concurred in the calling of a Special Session of the General Assembly for the purpose of constituting and instructing a Special Committee to prepare for the consideration of the question of Palestine at the next Regular Session of the Assembly. Of these, - thirty-eight concurred; Ethiopia alone did not. Belgium later indicated its approval, increasing to thirty-nine the number of nations concurring. In giving its approval, the New Zealand Government expressed its view that the Special Session should be for the sole purpose of constituting and instructing the Special Committee.