A.—SA,

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. New Zealand Government Offices, 415 Strand, London, W.C. 2, 31st October, 1938. The Council of the League of Nations held two meetings during its one hundred and third session. Although a session is not declared open until the first public meeting, it actually began on the 26th September with a secret meeting which was devoted entirely to the election of a Judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice to fill the vacancy caused by the death of M. Ake Hammarskjold. This matter is dealt with in my report on the Assembly. Ultimately M. Rafael Waldemar Erich (Finland) was elected and M. Erich accepted the appointment. Documents A. 28, 1938, V, and A. 29, 1938, Y. The second meeting of the Council was held on the afternoon of the 30th September, first m private and then in public. The agenda of the session contained nine items and was adopted without alteration or addition (Documents C. 330, M. 196, 1938, and addendum). Appointment of Rapporteurs for the Year 1938-39. It will be useful for record purposes to have a list of the Rapporteurs appointed to deal with questions coming before the Council during the next twelve months. This list is revised at the beginning of every session of the Council following the close of the Assembly, the revision being necessary owing to the election by the Assembly of three new non-permanent members of the Council. The rapporteurs for the next twelve months, as proposed by the Secretary-General and agreed to by the Council, are as follow : — Budgetary and Administrative Questions .. • • China. Danzig • • • • • • • • • • United Kingdom. Disarmament . . • • • • • ■ • • Iran. Economic Questions . . ■. ■ • • • • • Belgium. Slavery .. ■ • • • • • • • • • United Kingdom. Financial Questions . . ■ • ■ ■ • • ■ • Sweden. Health Questions .. ■ ■ • • • • • • New Zealand. Intellectual Co-operation .. ■ • • • • • France. Mandates . . • • • • • • • • • • Latvia. Opium .. ■ • • • • • • • • • Greece. Refugees .. • • • • • • • • ■ • Bolivia. Social Questions .. . • • • • ■ • • P eru - Transit Questions .. .. • • • • • • Union ol Soviet Socialist Republics. Appointments. Council Committee on Technical Collaboration between the League of Nations and China. Owing to the change in the composition of the Council due to recent elections it became necessary to appoint a new member in substitution of Roumania. The President of the Council proposed the appointment of Yugoslavia, and this was agreed to by the Council (Document C. 346, 1938). Council Committee for the Settlement of the Assyrians of Iraq. For the reason given in the preceding paragraph it became necessary to replace Ecuador and Roumania by two other States as members of this Council Committee. The President proposed the appointment of Yugoslavia and Peru and his proposal was concurred in by the Council (Document C. 348, 1938). Composition of the Economic Committee. For reasons of health M. Octavio Morato, of Uruguay, had been obliged to resign from membership of the Economic Committee, and the question of appointing a successor arose. The President of the Council suggested the appointment of Professor Miguel Lopez Pumarejo, Colombian Minister to the United States, and the Council agreed. The appointment will terminate on the 31st December, 1939, when, indeed, the term of office of all members of the Committee will expire. At the same time the President announced that the Government of Portugal was desirous of one of its nationals taking part in the work of the Economic Committee as a corresponding member. The President of the Council proposed, and the Council agreed, to the appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel T. W. Fernandes as a member of the Committee for the Study of the Problem of Raw Materials. This appointment will likewise terminate in December, 1939 (Document C. 343, 1938, 11, B). Composition of the Committee on the Behaviour of Tax Systems. Owinc to the death of M. Edgard Allix, of Paris, it became necessary to appoint a successor as member of this Committee. The Rapporteur, the representative of Sweden, proposed the appointment of M. Louis Baudin, Professor of Political Economy at the Faculty of Law of the University of Paris. In this proposal the Council agreed (Document C. 342, 1938, 11, A).

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