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I. The Secretariat At Beirut the Director-General was asked to overhaul the Secretariat, and to concentrate a larger measure of administrative responsibility on the heads of programme departments. His report was approved, as an interim report, by the Commission, which believed " that the General Conference will look forward to any further report on this subject which the Director-General may wish to make to the fifth session." In other words, the general feeling was, "so far so good." The New Zealand wish to have the administrative machinery stream-lined is shared, very obviously, by other countries ; in fact, as the New Zealand point of view was put so very ably by Australia, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, the New Zealand delegate held his peace rather than add further words to words. But it must be emphasized that in international administration the stream-lining process can probably not go very far, and that efficiency must, unhappily, be less than the efficiency of a first-rate national Civil Service. There are also different administrative habits and dogmas to consider. For instance, to minds trained in a British administrative system the Bureau of Administrative Management and Budget is an institution of very doubtful value; to American minds, one gathers, it is indispensable. One point must not be forgotten in any estimation of the work of the Secretariat. This is that they are suffering, and will continue to suffer till the holding of sessions of the General Conference returns to normal, from too many conferences. The fact that this one was called a " short business Conference " made very little difference. Full-blown sessions of the General Conference in December, 1948, September, 1949, and May, 1950, impose an intolerable burden, and, indeed, would impose an intolerable burden on the most efficient organization in the heyday of its strength. Considering that the UNESCO Secretariat has never been allowed to settle down, and considering the distractions on the ablest of its officials, it is remarkable what valuable work those officials have done—at a very heavy price in overwork and worry, it is true. This is not, of course, to argue that all work has been well done, or has been the right work. The Director-General has now been given clear power to terminate the services of any staff member whose work is unsatisfactory. Salary and Allowances System There was to be joint study of this by the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies. As the United Nations had not completed its own study, the UNESCO system is to be continued provisionally as at present, except for certain reductions made in allowances to meet the effect of devaluation; the Director-General to report again at the fifth session of the General Conference.