A.—sd.

"2. Requests the Secretary-General— " (a) To communicate to Governments the report of the committee and to invite them to reply, if possible before May Ist, 1938, to the questionnaire contained in Section I of that report : " (6) To take the necessary measures for the preparation of an objective statement for publication on the behaviour of the tax systems based on the studies which have been furnished to the Fiscal Committee. "3. Decides to appoint a small committee of economists to consider what conclusions of an economic order may be drawn from the evidence afforded by the inquiry on the behaviour of tax systems. "4. Authorizes the Fiscal Committee to invite budgetary experts and some of its corresponding members to attend its next session in the capacity of assessors." Economic Committee : Report on the Work or its Forty-seventh Session. The Committee's report is Document C. 577, M. 411, 1937, llb, and the Rapporteur's comments are contained in his report to the Council, Document C. 22, 1938, llb. The question of access to raw materials has been before the League for some time and has been the subject of more than one valuable report. Two of the countries which are normally importers of large quantities of raw materials have not taken any active part in the inquiry. Nevertheless a stage has been reached at which interested Governments are to be asked whether, in their opinion, the time is ripe for international action, and a suggestion of the Council's Rapporteur on these lines was approved. A question of considerable importance to most countries, and especially to those exporting foodstuffs, is the improvement in the standard of living. The Economic Committee has been charged by the assembly with an inquiry into this problem, and it has taken preliminary steps with the aid of certain experts. Related to this question is the problem of economic depressions and an examination of the possibility of framing measures for their prevention and mitigation. Into this question the Financial Committee of the League is making investigations and is assisted by some members of the Economic Committee ; indeed, on several matters the two committees work in close collaboration. No action other than approving the Rapporteur's report was required on the part of the Council. Nutrition. The Rapporteur, the representative of Belgium, laid before the Council a report, which is numbered C. 51, 1938, 11 a. The reports furnished by your representative on the annual assemblies have dealt with the question of nutrition as examined by the mixed committee appointed by the Assembly of 1935. Last year's Assembly decided that although the mixed committee had completed its report the question should not lie dormant, and it passed a resolution inviting the Council to arrange for annual meetings of representatives of National Nutrition Committees. The Council was called upon to take action in respect of this resolution. Paragraphs 3t07 of the Rapporteur's report deal with the suggested meetings of representatives of National Nutrition Committees and were endorsed by the Council, which passed the following resolution : — " The Council— " 1. Requests the Secretary-General to inquire of all States members whether they have set up a national nutrition committee, and, if so, to supply him, in time for the next ordinary session of the Council, with information as to the composition of this committee, its statutes, and its terms of reference. "2. Decides to determine at its next ordinary session which States shall be invited to send representatives to a meeting of national nutrition committees to be held at Geneva." Mandates. The Council had before it the report of the representative of Roumania on the work accomplished by the Permanent Mandates Commission during its thirty-third session (Document C. 48, 1938, VI). The Permanent Mandates Commission examined during that session the annual reports on the administration under mandate of Syria and Lebanon, Ruandi-Urundi, Cameroons, Togoland, islands under Japanese mandate, and Western Samoa. Your representative who attended the meetings of the Permanent Mandates Commission devoted to the examination of the report on the administration of Western Samoa has already reported on the examination, and no useful purpose would be served here in commenting on that examination. Nor do the proceedings of the Council call for observation. Under the , resolution of the Council the observations of the Permanent Mandates Commission on the administration of the various territories will be transmitted to the Mandatory Powers. Health Committee : Report on the Work op its Twenty-sixth Session. My report to the Council is Document C. 32, 1938, 111. The reconstructed Health Committee is now functioning, and during its session early in November last it dealt with a number of matters of a technical nature, for information on which I refer you to its report (Document C. 535, M. 372, 1937, III). There are, however, two points of a non-technical character to which I will briefly refer. The system of appointing associate or correspondent members to attend meetings of the Health Committee at the expense of the Governments appointing them received the approval of the Council some time ago. It has been taken advantage of by Japan, which, although not a member of the League, has interested herself in humanitarian phases of the League's work. The Belgian Government has

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