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REPORT OF THE NEW ZEALAND DELEGATION ON THE SECOND PART OF THE THIRD REGULAR SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 5 APRIL TO 18 MAY, 1949 I. LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER FROM CHAIRMAN OF DELEGATION New Zealand Delegation to the General Assembly, 8 June, 1949. Sir, — I have the honour to append the report of the New Zealand delegation, of which I was Chairman, to the second part of the third regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which began at Flushing Meadows, New York, on 5 April, 1949, and ended on 18 May, 1949. This meeting was, of course, merely a continuation of that which had commenced in Paris in September, 1948, but which had found itself unable to complete its work at that time and accordingly adjourned the consideration of a number of items on its agenda until April, 1949. It follows, therefore, that the full mechanism of the General Assembly was not brought entirely into play. Though the main Committees, of the Assembly had been established in Paris, and though the General Committee, construction of which depends in part on these Committees, continued to meet in New York, it was not found necessary for all the Committees to meet. The Second, Fourth, and Sixth Committees found no occasion to meet, though, as indicated later, some of the work of the Sixth Committee in Paris was finally disposed of in plenary session in New York. I do not think this was a good meeting. It is indeed true that the violence of language which has characterized previous meetings was not quite so evident; but I saw no real diminution in the opposition of the Slav group, not only to the Western Powers but to the principles and the objectives of the United Nations itself. And although the Assembly did dispose, not discreditably, of most of the items on its agenda, it did this, as usual, in a very slow and cumbersome way with a consumption of time that Was out of all proportion to the results; and it is, I think, fair to point out that in the one really fundamental subject which lay before it for decision —the disposition of the Italian colonies—the Assembly lamentably failed to come to any decision at all. This failure, it seems to me, cannot but be detrimental to the United Nations, especially having regard to the fact that by its own

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