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The Conference was a very arduous one, the volume of work done being unequalled in the 1.L.0.'s thirty-year history. Three new International Labour Conventions were adopted and five others revised, three new Recommendations were approved and another revised, and resolutions passed charting 1.L.0. policy in several fields. The Conference also approved a Budget of $5,983,526 to finance the Organization's operations in 1950, scrutinized the manner in which countries are applying the 1.L.0. Conventions they have ratified, and debated at length a report on economic and social trends and on the work of the Organization that was presented by the Director-General. The three new Conventions and the five revised Conventions approved by the session brought to 98 the total number of such international instruments adopted to date. The new and revised Recommendations voted by the meeting raised to 90 the total of these regulations. Among the decisions the Conference embodied in resolutions was one authorizing the 1.L.0.'s Governing Body to make any necessary arrangements to enable the Organization to initiate an expanded programme of technical assistance for the economic development of under-developed areas. This expanded programme would be part of the co-operative programme among the United Nations and its associated Specialized Agencies that is under consideration by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the appropriate organs of the Specialized Agencies. Regarded by many delegates as the most important of the three new International Labour Conventions was one which will require ratifying countries to assure to workers the right to organize into trade-unions without interference and to bargain collectively. This Convention complements the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize which was adopted by the 1948 session of the Conference. These two instruments constitute major parts of the programme of action in the field of trade-union rights and industrial relations upon which the Organization embarked two years ago. The Conference also adopted new Conventions designed (1) to assure that workers employed in the execution of contracts entered into by public authorities shall have wages, hours of work, and working-conditions not less favourable than other workers doing similar labour ; (2) to protect workers' wages by assuring that they are paid in cash, promptly, in full,- and directly to the workers. The revised Conventions approved by the session (1) established international minimum standards to protect persons migrating from one country to take employment in another (this replaced a Convention adopted in 1939) ; (2) provided for the gradual abolition or, alternatively, the regulation of employment agencies which charge fees and are operated with a view to profit (this replaced a Convention adopted in 1933) ; (3) established vacation holidays with pay for seafarers (this replaced a 1946 Convention) ; (4) set standards for the accommodation of crews on board ship (this replaced a 1946 Convention) ; (5) fixed minimum wages for seafarers, established maximum hours, and set requirements for the manning of ships (this also replaced a 1946 Convention). The revision of these five Conventions was designed to meet objections to them which have impeded their ratification by Governments and the application of their provisions. The revision of the three Conventions setting maritime standards was only partial, and was decided upon to make more flexible and in this way to facilitate their ratification. The new Recommendations adopted by the Conference (1) supplemented the Convention on Labour Clauses in Public Contracts, (2) supplemented the Convention on the Protection of Wages, and (3) recommended standards governing vocational guidance for young persons and employment counselling for adults. The revised Recommendation approved by the Conference supplemented the revised Convention on Migration for Employment.

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