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These suggestions were made under two headings : (1) Reduction of the Amount of Work to be Completed by the General Assembly at a Given Session.—lt was suggested that the General -Committee should give greater attention to the urgency of proposed items in relation to the total agenda and the time available for the session, and that the rules of procedure should be amended to provide that items proposed for inclusion should be accompanied by a draft resolution or by a memorandum stating the reasons in favour of including such items. (2) Increase in the Speed at Which the Assembly Deals With Matters Before It. —-The three delegations had suggested that work might be ■speeded up by the adoption of an electrical voting system, that a target date should be set for the termination of the session, that each Committee should fix target dates for the conclusion of the discussion of each item, that meetings should begin more promptly, possibly without the need for the present quorum, and that the rules regarding time limits on speeches be re-examined. Later they made additional suggestions—-namely, that a Preparatory 'Committee which could deal with allocation of the various items might meet before each session, that experienced Chairmen of Committees should be elected, and that in order to avoid .debate on points of drafting the Chairman might, to a greater extent, refer such questions to the rapporteur. The representatives of the Eastern European States claimed that more than purely technical measures were needed to increase the effectiveness of the work of the Assembly, and that the way to speed up this work was to avoid the discussion of such " utterly irrelevant items " as the Mindszenty case. Other speakers, however, opposed curtailment or elimination of important items involving fundamental human rights, insisting that there should be a free and full discussion of all such questions, discussion being even more important than the decisions taken. Finally the Committee, by 43 votes (N.Z.) in favour with 6 abstentions, approved a resolution establishing a special committee consisting of Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Mexico, Soviet Union, Sweden, the United Kingdom, United .States, and Uruquay iji order to — " {a) Consider methods and procedures which would enable the General Assembly and its Committees to discharge their functions more effectively and expeditiously ; " (b) Submit, if possible, a preliminary report to the General Assembly during the second part of its third session ; " (c) Transmit a report to the Secretary-General, not later than 15 August, 1949, for circulation to members and for consideration at the fourth regular session of the General Assembly."
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