COUNCIL DISSOLVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26617, 13 November 1947, Page 7

COUNCIL DISSOLVED

EMERGENCY FOOD CONTROL FUNCTIONS TRANSFERRED TO F.A.O. Rec. 8 p.m. WASHINGTON, Nov. 11. The International Emergency Food Council to-day accepted the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s recommendation that it should be dissolved and its functions transferred to the F.A.O. The council dissolution will take effect as soon as the majority of the 35 member Governments concur. This is expected to be almost immediately and the International Emergency Food Council work will not be continued until next June as some members wished. To overcome the objection that the 18-member F.A.O. council is not sufficiently representative, the F.A.O. has undertaken to invite all the Governments represented upon any commodity committee, but which are not members of the council, to participate in meetings of the council at which an international allocation of commodities in short supply is under consideration. The council will also establish a committee to be known as the International Emergency Food Committee with functions similar to those of the Central Committee of the I.E.F.C. and with membership initially identical with the Central Committee. The council also agreed to take over the entire machinery and staff of the I.E.F.C. and will endeavour to retain the services of the I.E.F.C. secretarygeneral, Mr Denis Fitzgerald. _ I.E.F.C increased the membership of its Central Committee to 11 and named as delegates the representatives of Australia, Canada. China. France, India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands, Norway and Egypt Denmark was the only nation dropped from the old committee. . „ At the concluding meeting of the council the F.A.O. adopted the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the long-term problems of food production and distribution. The report declared that the world food shortage and the requirements of the progressively increasing world population demanded the initiation, where not already done, of national programmes for increased production. The chairman of the F.A.0., Viscount Bruce, said it seemed clear the world food shortage would continue for at least four or five years.