A.—sa.

resigned membership. His place had therefore to be filled by one of Swiss nationality. The Council's Rapporteur, the representative of Belgium, proposed the appointment of M. E. Peguignot, Secretary of the Department of Public Economy of the Swiss Confederation, and to this the Council agreed. The Council also agreed to the appointment as a member of the Economic Committee of M. J. A. liins de Barros, a Brazilian. The Government of Brazil, which country is no longer a member of the League, although it takes part in certain aspects of the League's work, has long desired representation on the Economic Committee. The Committee will derive benefit from this participation in that direct expression can be given to the views of this important South American country (see Document C. 40, .1.939, 11, B). (b) Permanent Central Opium Board. The Board should consist of eight members. It was due for renewal in the autumn, and the Council appointed seven members at its last session. M. S. Kusama, one of those appointed, was unable to accept the appointment owing to recent developments in Japan's relations with the League, and the vacancy had to be filled. In the meantime there was pressure to bring the Board to full strength. On the advice of its Rapporteur, the representative of Greece, the Council decided to fill the existing two vacancies by the appointment of M. Salahaddin Cam and Judge Michael Hansson. The two new members are respectively of Turkish and Norwegian nationality (see Documents C. 6, 1939 XI and C. 37, 1939, XI). (c) International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. There are six vacant seats on the governing body, but the President of the Council, who acted as Rapporteur on the question, proposed to fill three only during the present session, leaving consideration, of the remaining appointments for a subsequent session. He suggested the appointment of the following : — M. Jule Basdevant, Legal Adviser to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a well-known figure in Geneva; Sir William Montague Graham Harrison, K.C.8., K.C., D.C.L., for some years First Parliamentary Counsel to the Treasury ; and M. Algot Bagge, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Sweden. The Council concurred in this suggestion (see Document C. 44, 1939, XII). League Committees. This item need not detain us. It is provided in the General Regulations on Committees that if a Committee has not met for two consecutive years the Council should consider whether the Committee should continue to exist. On this point no decision was required. In accordance with the usual practice, the Rapporteur, the representative of France, laid before the Council a list of the various Committees of the League of Nations (Document C. 3, 1939 ; see also Document C. 48, 1939). Co-ordination between the Advisory Committee on Social Questions and the Health Organization. In accordance with the suggestion of the Secretary-General, the Council decided to ask the President of the Health Committee and the Chairman of the Committee on Social Questions to invite one or two members of each Committee to examine with the Secretary-General the possibility of evolving a system of permanent co-ordination between the Advisory Committee on Social Questions and the Health Organization and to secure collaboration with the International Labour Office. Last year's Assembly expressed a wish on these lines (see Document C. 49, 1939). Composition op the Permanent Mandates Commission. The Secretary-General informed the Council that difficulties might arise in the future owing to the depletion in membership of the Permanent Mandates Commission. For meetings of the Commission the quorum had been fixed at six. The Commission normally consisted of ten members, acting in their personal capacity and not representing Governments, with the addition of an extraordinary member (M. Rappard, who was Director of the Section of the Secretariat dealing with mandates in the early years of the League) ; but the resignation of the German, Italian, and Japanese members had reduced membership to eight, and if three of the remaining members were unable to attend meetings the proceedings \\ ould not be valid, as a quorum could not be formed. The Secretary-General proposed that the Rapporteur on Mandate Questions should examine the matter in conjunction with himself. The representative of Latvia (the Rapporteur) stated that he was prepared to study the question, but in the meantime he suggested reducing the quorum to five. The Council concurred. The President of the Council, after inviting the representative of Turkey to come to the Council table, referred to the question of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, examination of the administration of which had been postponed by the Permanent Mandates Commission, whose report on the administration of Syria and Lebanon would be considered later in the afternoon. The accredited representative of the Mandatory Power (France) had made a statement to the Commission to the effect that there had been developments which had changed the whole aspect of the question, and that the circumstances and consequences of the developments were still a matter for the Council of the League of Nations. The President of the Council, who, of course, had been closely concerned with the question of Alexandretta when it had occupied the attention of the Council in previous sessions, said that it was desirable that the Council should have all the essential documentation.

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