17

A.—s

The declarations with respect to these two questions as finally approved by the Council of the League are as follows : — "As regards the Commission's general observations on, — "I. Loans, Advances, and Investments of Public and Private Capital in Mandated Territories. " The Council, in view of the discussion of the Permanent Mandates Commission, in the course of its sixth session, on the subject of loans, advances, and investments of public and private capital in mandated territories, and in view of the earlier discussions and inquiries' and of the statements of the Mandatory Powers on this subject — " 1. Declares that the validity of financial obligations assumed by a Mandatory Power on behalf of a mandated territory in conformity with the provisions of the mandate and all rights regularly acquired under the mandatory regime are in no way impaired by the fact that the territory is administered under mandate. "2. Agrees on the following principles : (a) That the cessation or transfer of a mandate cannot take place unless the Council has been assured in advance that the financial obligations regularly assumed by the former Mandatory Power will be carried out, and that all rights regularly acquired under the administration of the former Mandatory Power shall be respected ; and (b) that when this change has been effected the Council will continue to use all its influence to ensure the fulfilment of these obligations. " 11. Extension of Special International Conventions to Mandated Territories. " The Council approves the proposal of the Commission. " The Council therefore, — " 1. Recommends that the Mandatory Powers, and also all States, whether members or not of the League of Nations, which have concluded special treaties or conventions with the Mandatory Powers should agree to extend the benefits of such treaties or conventions to mandated territories, if circumstances render such extension possible and expedient and if the provisions of these international agreements are consistent with the stipulations of the Covenant and the mandate. "2. Requests the Mandatory Powers, subject to the above reservations, to insert in any special treaties or conventions they may conclude hereafter a clause providing for the possibility of their application to mandated territories. " 3. Requests the Mandatory Powers to indicate in their annual reports, if possible and expedient, the reasons and circumstances which have prevented, the application to mandated territories of the special treaties or conventions which they may have concluded with other Powers during the period under review." The minutes of the sixth session of the Permanent Mandates Commission are contained in Document C. 386, while comments by the representatives of France, G-reat Britain, and the Union of South Africa on certain of the Commission's observations in regard to their respective territories will be found in Document A. 21. The Commission, having referred to the fact that the extension of the Australian Navigation Act to New Guinea, and the consequent restriction of the shipping of this territory to Australian bottoms, would appear to hamper the economic development of the territory, the representative of the Commonwealth advised the Secretariat, during the sitting of the Sixth Assembly, that the territory of New Guinea had, by an Order in Council, been exempted from the operation of the coastal trade provisions of the Act (Document A. 64). The position with respect to the frontier between Angola and south-west Africa is referred to in Documents A. 61 and A. 97. All questions relating to mandates were, as usual, referred for the consideration of the Sixth Committee by a resolution submitted by Dr. Nansen of the Norwegian Delegation (Document A. 56), and the reports of the committee, which were approved by the Assembly on the 21st September, will be found in Documents A. 68, A. 89, and A. 105. Both in the committee and Assembly debates on mandates one topic to which special reference was made was the liquor traffic and the evil effect on the Native peoples resulting therefrom. All the speakers emphasized the urgent need for stamping out this scourge. The delegate of Sweden, who is also a member of the Permanent Mandates Commission, said this was perhaps the most pressing problem confronting the Commission, and that one of its most prominent members had agreed to write a special memorandum on the subject for discussion at the next session of the Commission. Slavery. It will be remembered that the question of slavery was raised by the New Zealand Delegation to the Third Assembly, which carried a xesolution inviting the Council to investigate the subject with a view to the adoption by States members of the League, and all civilized nations, of measures for the abolition of slavery in all its varied forms, and of other practices restrictive of the liberty of the person. In my report last year I briefly referred to the appointment of a Temporary Slavery Commission, which was the first step taken by the Council to give effect to the resolution of 1922, and of the programme of work which it proposed to carry out. The report of this Commission was laid before the Assembly this year, and it is a most interesting and instructive document (A. 19). It was very rightly described by Viscount Cecil, speaking on behalf of the British Government during the discussion in the Sixth Committee, as constituting a landmark in the history of slavery. I think it will come as a shock to many people to learn that this scourge of humanity still exists in one form or another in many countries, and some of them subscribers to the Covenant of the League.

3—A. 5.