A.—s.

in being. The committees having met between the first and second meetings of the Assembly to elect their Chairmen, i.e.— First Committee.. .. .. M. Motta (Switzerland), Second Committee .. .. .. Count Carton de Wiart (Belgium), Fourth Committee .. .. . . M. Fotitch (Yugoslavia), Fifth Committee.. .. .. .. Mile. Hesselgren (Sweden), Sixth Committee .. .. . . M. de Madariaga (Spain), the so-called Bureau of the Assembly was complete. This Bureau consists of the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Chairmen of the five committees, and the Chairman to the Agenda Committee. You will be interested to learn that I was approached with a view to serving as Chairman of one of the committees, and thus becoming a member of the Bureau, but in view of the smallness of the New Zealand delegation, consisting of myself, my Private Secretary, and my personal assistant, and of the need for giving attention to work coming from London, I felt obliged to decline. European Union. No comment is needed on the following resolution, which was passed by the Assembly on the afternoon of the 27tli September : — " The Assembly,— " After consulting its General Committee as to the procedure to be followed in connection with Item 12 of the agenda of this session (Commission of Inquiry for European Union), " Notes that circumstances have made it impossible for this Commission to meet since the last session : " Decides, under these conditions, to renew for twelve months the term of office of the Commission of Inquiry for European Union and to include forthwith the report of this Commission in the agenda of its next session." (Document A. 28.) Argentine Republic. It was at this meeting on the 27th September that the Chairman announced the accession of the Argentine Republic to the League of Nations. It will be recollected that the Argentine Republic was one of the original members of the League, but that its delegates left the first Assembly following the loss of a motion which it had proposed (Document A. 34). Secretary-General's Report. This year's discussion on the Report by the Secretary-General (A. 6 and A. 6 (a)) was short. It occupied but four sittings. In the course of the discussion motions were introduced, one by the German delegation, that papers in connection with the protection of minorities be referred to the appropriate Committee of the Assembly ; there was also a motion on minorities introduced by the delegate from Haiti (Document A. 35) ; another of similar purport regarding mandates introduced by the Norwegian delegation ; and yet another, introduced in the course of a speech by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, has reference to the problems created by the flight of Jews from Germany. It reads as follows :— " The Assembly, — "Having regard to the situation created by the fact that a large number of German nationals have in recent months taken refuge in several countries ; " Considering that their presence in those countries constitutes, in proportion as means of assistance from private sources are exhausted, an economic, financial, and social problem, which can be solved only by international collaboration, " Requests the Council to consider, as soon as possible, the methods of bringing about a practical arrangement for this purpose, and to take the necessary measures for the execution of any plans to which such consideration may give rise : " Decides, in accordance with article 16a, paragraph 1, of its Financial Regulations, to include a special item for this purpose in the Budget for 1934." It had been hoped that the refugee work which has occupied the attention of successive Assemblies since 1920, and has been so costly to the League, would, in a few years, be completed. The additional work foreshadowed by the motion, a motion based on ample precedent, was proposed at a time when the reserves of the League are strained to the utmost. Further comment here is unnecessary, as the subject will be dealt with under the appropriate committee. There were also interesting speeches, including one by the Swedish delegate and another by Sir John Simon, who touched on certain aspects of disarmament; but the fine oratory which some former Assemblies have enjoyed was not conspicuous this year. Election of Non-permanent Members to the Council. The Assembly at its meeting on the 2nd October elected the following States to fill three nonpermanent seats on the Council which had that day become vacant: — Denmark received 52 votes. Argentine Republic received 49 votes. Australia received 47 votes. The Assembly having already resolved to increase the number of non-permanent seats on the Council by one (see the section devoted to No. 1 Committee), it proceeded to the election of an additional member on the 9th October. There were two candidates, Portugal and Turkey. The former country was elected, receiving 30 votes, whilst Turkey obtained 20 votes. The Assembly closed on the 11th October.

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