A.—sd.

ONE-HUNDREDTH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. New Zealand Government Offices, 415 Strand, London, W.C. 2, 11th February, 1938. Sib, — I have the honour to submit this my report oil the one-hundredth session of the Council of the League of Nations. Accompanied by Miss J. R. McKenzie and by my Private Secretary, Mr. C. A. Knowles, I arrived in Geneva on the evening of the 25th January for the opening of the session oil the following day. The agenda, Document C. 570 (1), M. 406 (1), 1937, contained twenty-six items, most of them subjects requiring nothing more than formal action by the Council. There were, however, a few items, such as the " Appeal by the Chinese Government " and the " Question of Alexandretta," of first-class importance in themselves and which might occasion difficulties that would tax all the resources of the Council. Further, it was generally known that advantage would be taken of the Council session by some of its members to make public the attitude of their respective Governments towards the League. There was a short private session on the morning of the 26th January, but the greater part of that day was employed in private conversations between various delegates and also between delegates and diplomatic representatives accredited to Switzerland. There was also an exchange of views between the Foreign Ministers of France and Turkey and M. Unden, the Swedish representative on the Council, who is Rapporteur on questions affecting Alexandretta. The agenda of this meeting contained four items. The first —Adoption of the Agenda of the Session—gave rise to a statement by the representative of France regarding Item 11 of the agenda of the session. He requested that the item be withdrawn, as he thought a further delay in fixing the date of the Diplomatic Conference to conclude an international convention for the Protection of National Artistic and Historical Treasures would be of service to those engaged in the preparation for the Conference. Item 2—Adoption of the Agenda of the Meeting—gave rise to no discussion. Item 3 —Budgetary and Administrative Questions —for which the representative of China is the Rapporteur, deals with the renewal by the Rockefeller Foundation of the offer made in 1933 for the promotion of the analytical research work of the Financial Section and Economic Intelligence Service of the Secretariat. The paper on the subject is numbered C. 28, 1938, X, and it will be observed that the Foundation offered a sum of 350,000 Swiss francs. This offer was gratefully accepted by the Council. I should like to state that the Rockefeller Foundation has rendered great service to the League in important branches of its work, such as that referred to above and, above all, in the provision of a library to house a valuable and constantly growing collection of volumes which is already of international importance. The second section of the item—Budgetary and Administrative Questions dealing with Appointments and Promotions in the Secretariat since the last Session of the Council (Documents C. 12, 1938, and C. 12 (a), 1938 —was of more than passing interest in that the Secretary-General devoted his remarks to the promotion of M. L.A. Podesta Costa, an Argentine citizen, to an Under-Secretaryship. The Secretary-General was of the opinion that M. Podesta Costa's services were of so valuable a nature that he could be better employed, and with greater scope, as an Under-Secretary ; and he added that it was intended to place M. Costa in charge of a mission which later in the year would visit various countries in South America. It would appear that such an arrangement is all to the good. The League has again reached a critical stage of its existence, and direct contact between those who are familiar with its work at first hand and Ministers and high officers of administrations in distant countries who deal with international questions cannot but be of service. The last item on the day's agenda is divided into three sections— (a) Advisory Committee on Social Questions, for which the representative of Peru is Rapporteur. The document on the subject is numbered C. 45, 1938, IV. The Council accepted the suggestion of the Rapporteur that two vacancies on the Advisory Committee on Social Questions should be filled by citizens of Ireland and Yugoslavia. (b) International Committee on Intellectual Co-operation.—The document is numbered C. 24, 1938, XII, and the Rapporteur is the representative of France. lam sure it will give great satisfaction to those who are interested in the work of the International Committee to learn that the Council approved of the reappointment of Professor Gilbert Murray and Professor J. T. Shotwell as members of that Committee for a further period of three years. (c) Board of Management of the Staff Provident Fund. —The Rapporteur, the representative of China, in referring to his report, C. 42, 1938, X, asked the Council to appoint Mr. K. G. McKinlay to the Board of Management of the Staff Provident Fund in place of M. di Palma Castiglione, who had resigned from the staff of the International Labour Office. The appointment was approved by the Council. The Council met for the second time in private on the evening of the 27th January, when the following three items were under consideration : — (1) Financial Committee: Report on the Work of its Sixty-fifth Session.—As a matter of fact, discussion was confined entirely to the financial .position of Hungary on which the Financial Committee of the League made a report supplementary to its main report. This supplementary report is document C. 9, 1938, Ha. For some years, indeed since 1932, Hungary had not been able to obtain sufficient

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