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international public servants, and in anticipation of early action by member Governments to accede to the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, or to exempt their nationals employed by specialized agencies of the United Nations from national income taxation with respect to salaries and emoluments paid by the specialized agencies, or otherwise to grant relief from double taxation to such nationals. Details of the plan were approved, and the Director-General was authorized to establish such a plan, effective on Ist January, 1950, or such other time as may be determined. Pensions The Director-General presented an independent FAO pension scheme which was designed to provide benefits similar to the United Nations scheme, except that retiring age under FAO would be sixty-five years, rather than sixty. It was estimated that the FAO scheme would cost some $70,000 per annum less than entering into the United Nations scheme, and the Commission decided, by a close vote, to accept the FAO independent scheme. After this decision, however, the permanent site of FAO was decided in favour of Rome, and the Director-General then pointed out that the pension scheme would still have to be based on United States dollars, that in his view the saving would now be considerably reduced, and that he accordingly favoured the entry of FAO into the United Nations Pension Fund. Financial Affairs In general discussion, the main faults in financial affairs referred to were the arrears of contributions. The Commission noted a suggestion from the Council that the Organization should consult with the United Nations and other specialized agencies on the methods adopted in collecting arrears—the Commission felt, however, that such action should be left to the discretion of the Director-General. The financial affairs of FAO, whilst reasonably sound, do warrant the utmost care and economy. The biggest help would be the prompt payment in full by all Governments of their contributions in each year, and it will be necessary for the Director-General to exercise every economy to ensure getting FAO on a sound financial basis so that its programme of work will not be impaired. Draft Budget for 1950 The same difficulty occurred at this session as at the fourth session in that Commission II in discussing the programme of work did not finish its deliberations until late in the session and this delayed consideration of the budget. At the same time Commission II found that the documents presented to it did not allow it to make an estimate