8

PROGRAMME AND BUDGET COMMISSION The Executive Board had suggested that the Conference should work on the basis provided by the programme resolutions of the second session. It also supplied recommendations which were to be studied alongside the earlier resolutions. In this way, it was hoped, the Conference would be able to decide what activities would be undertaken in 1949, within the limits set by budgetary allocations. Other activities included in the programme could be held over for consideration at future sessions of the General Conference. The procedure was satisfactory, in that programme and Budget were kept in a strict relationship. Although some delegations were anxious to initiate new projects, the general feeling seemed to be that UNESCO needed time in which to carry out the proposals made at previous conferences. Sub-Commissions were established to consider the programme for reconstruction, communication, education, cultural questions, natural sciences, social sciences, and exchange of persons. Dr. Parton worked on reconstruction, cultural questions, and natural sciences ; and Mr. Holcroft specialized in communication, education, social sciences, and exchange of persons. A selec.t Budget Sub-Commission was also formed; New Zealand was not represented. The working plans submitted by different sections of the Secretariat varied considerably. Some were lucid and concise; others were diffuse and pretentious. It was generally found that the plans varied in quality in accordance with the realism of the proposals. In Education and the Social Sciences, for instance, the documents were admirable ; but for sections which seemed to be. moving uncertainly towards future activities —-as in Mass Communications and Philosophy and Humanistic Studies —the proposals were often framed obscurely and verbosely. The Director-General asked for a total Budget of $8,473,530 for 1949. His estimate was reduced by the Budget Sub-Commission to $7,787,000, an increase of only $97,363 on the allocation for 1948. The additional money was conceded by the Sub-Commission mainly because it had been made necessary by an increase in the cost of living in Paris. This decision was approved by the full Conference. Reconstruction The Reconstruction Sub-Commission was concerned first with direct relief, and approved a maximum of $175,000 for emergency grants in 1949. It was reported during the discussion that about half the emergency grants proposed for 1949 were to be expended on