A.—s.

the Chinese Government, but not to such an extent as in the territories under Japanese influence. Furthermore, the penalties inflicted by the Chinese Government were extremely severe, but this was not the case in territories under Japanese influence. The Chinese delegate concluded by saying that he saw little result being achieved by the Committee in the three fields he had mentioned. Several speakers commented on the serious situation in the parts of China under Japanese influence, which they felt was not only a real danger to the people concerned, but also to the whole world. They did not lose sight of the fact that substantial progress had been achieved by the League in its campaign against drugs, especially manufactured drugs, but it was felt that the most important aspect of the problem was in the limitation of raw materials through effective and stringent control by the administrations concerned. In regard to the position in the Far East, the Fifth Committee concluded its discussion by adopting the following resolution : — " Considering the serious situation existing in the Far East as revealed by the discussions held at the twenty-second session of the Advisory Committee on Traflic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs and by additional information furnished to the Fifth Committee ; " Considering further that such a situation constitutes a danger not only to China, but also to the whole world ; " Endorses fully the resolution on the subject adopted by the Opium Advisory Committee at its last session, which was approved by the Council; " Repeats its previous earnest appeals to the Japanese Government to take effective measures without delay to put an end to the clandestine manufacture and illicit traffic carried on by Japanese subjects in China, and requests the Japanese Government to inform the Opium Advisory Committee of the action which is being taken ; " And trusts that the Chinese Government will not relax its efforts in the face of an admittedly difficult situation, and that it will be able to report to the Opium Advisory Committee a progressive improvement in the situation in the regions in China to which neither Japanese nor other foreign influence extends." Regarding the preparatory work for the Conference to consider the possibility of limiting and controlling the cultivation of the opium poppy and the production of raw opium, the Fifth Committee agreed that the programme of the Conference should be sufficiently wide to include any problem, such as that of opium-smoking, relating to the use of the opium poppy and of raw opium. The programme should also cover the direct extraction of morphine from the dried poppy plant. The report of the Fifth Committee (Document A. 66, 1937, XI) was adopted by the Assembly. SIXTH COMMITTEE : POLITICAL QUESTIONS. New Zealand Delegate: Mr. W. J. Jordan. Substitute: Mr. C. A. Knowles. Mandates. The Sixth Committee considered the reports of the Permanent Mandates Commission during its Thirtieth and Thirty-first (Ordinary) Sessions and Thirty-second (Extraordinary) Session. The documents are numbered C. 500, M. 313, 1936, VI, Extract No. I, C. 360, 1937, VI, and C. 370, 1937, VI. The debate in the Committee concerned itself almost exclusively with the future of the status of Palestine. It is true that aspects of administration under mandate in other countries were touched upon, and the representative of South Africa found it necessary to devote the major part of a short speech to South West Africa. Having regard to the fact that in November a representative of New Zealand will appear before the Permanent Mandates Commission, when the discussion on the report of the Administration of Western Samoa for the last financial year will take place, there seemed no need for your delegate in the Sixth Committee to make a statement, especially as fuller information on the new policy in Western Samoa has been promised and the Permanent Mandates Commission's report on its examination of the administration of the territory for the year ended 31st March, 1936, was dealt with by the New Zealand representative on the Council when this body met in Geneva in January, 1937. As I have stated above, the future of Palestine was debated to the almost total exclusion of other matters. The debate was interesting and at times a little tense. Representatives of countries possessing Arab populations mustered in force and made speeches which must have carried a certain amount of conviction in the mind of the impartial listener. Representatives of countries of Central and Eastern Europe were equally emphatic in the interests of the Jewish peoples. I think it is a fact that the wave of anti-Semitism which has flowed from Germany to near neighbours has had an effect on the indigenous populations that is extremely embarrassing to Governments, who are finding difficulty in finding checks. In the years before the war anti-Semitism found its outlet in pogroms sometimes initiated indirectly by Governmental action, but now they emanate rather from the populace, and it is the Governments who try to check these ugly manifestations. The Jews are multiplying. The outlet afforded by migration before the war is closed except the narrow outlet afforded by Palestine, and here immigration has recently received some check. So certain countries are further confronted with a problem, the solution of which lies almost entirely in emigration. No wonder that Governments are insistent on the fulfilment of a promise to create in Palestine a national home for the Jews. As I have remarked elsewhere, we are faced with a conflict of two rights, and our sympathy goes out to the United Kingdom Government in its efforts to find a solution. It should be stated that the debate in the Sixth Committee concluded with a speech by Mr. de Valera, who spoke in strong terms, and gave it as his opinion that partition was not a solution. The Sixth Committee was not called upon to take any action. The Palestine question was still within the competence of the Council, and particulars of such action as the Council had taken are given in my report of the Ninety-eighth Session of the Council.

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