bring the question to the Permanent Court of International Justice for a decision and not merely an advisory opinion, if the recommendations of the Communications and Transit Committee for the settlement of the dispute were not accepted. The abandonment of this view would weaken the machinery set up for the settlement of disputes on the interpretation and application of the Ports and Waterways Section of the Treaties of Peace.

VII.-SOCIAL QUESTIONS.

(1.) Greek Refugee Settlement Commission.

55. On the recommendation of the Financial Committee, the Council appointed Sir John Hope Simpson, C.I.E., to be VicePresident of this Commission in the place of Sir John Campbell, K.C.S.I., who had resigned.

(2.) Loan for the Settlement of Bulgarian Refugees.

56. At its 41st session in September 1926, the Council had approved a protocol drafted by the Financial Committee for signature on behalf of the Bulgarian Government in respect of a loan, not exceeding £2,225,000 sterling net, to be raised by this Government for the settlement of Bulgarian refugees. At the same time the Council had approved the scheme submitted by the Financial Committee for the employment of this loan, the assets to be set aside for the service of the loan, and the appointment of a commissioner to supervise the expenditure of the loan, &c. (see "Miscellaneous No. 9 (1926)," Cmd. 2761).

57. The Council now had to consider reports from the abovementioned Commissioner, M. Charron, and the Financial Committee on the progress made in the settlement of refugees with the £400,000 advanced by the Bank of England and in the issue of the loan. The scheme for the settlement of Bulgarian refugees as previously approved by the Council contained a provision that refugees were not to be settled within 50 kilom. of the frontier. On the recommendation of the Financial Committee, the Council approved a modification of the scheme by which the Bulgarian Government would be permitted to settle refugees in certain specified localities within 50 kilom. of the frontier and reserved its decision in regard to two other localities. The representatives of Greece and the Serb-CroatSlovene State, who sat on the Council for the discussion of the question, concurred in this decision and the Bulgarian representative expressed the thanks of his Government. The Council also appointed M. Bianchini, Sir Herbert Lawrence and M. Markus Wallenberg as trustees to represent the interests of the bondholders of the loan.

(3.) Extension of the Measures taken to Assist Russian and Armenian Refugees to other Analogous Categories of Refugees. 58. The Seventh Assembly had invited the Council to request the High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Labour

Office to consider how far the measures already taken on behalf of Russian and Armenian refugees could be extended to other categories of refugees (see "Miscellaneous No. 12 (1926)," Cmd. 2780).

59. In accordance with this decision of the Seventh Assembly, the Czechoslovak representative, in his capacity as rapporteur, proposed a resolution requesting the High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Labour Office to examine the proposed extension of measures of relief to categories of refugees, other than those from Armenia and Russia, who as a consequence of the war and of events directly connected therewith, are living under analogous conditions. The British representative suggested that, in order to facilitate the study of this question, the Council should also request the International Labour Office to furnish any information in its possession showing the extent and urgency of the problem and to indicate in its report the analogous categories of refugees on whose behalf its aid has already been invoked, their nationality, approximate numbers and distribution.

60. The resolution proposed by the Czechoslovak representative was adopted by the Council, together with the addition proposed by the British representative.

(4.) Opium

61. The Italian Government had drawn the attention of the Council to the special position of Italy as an important country of transit between countries producing and countries manufacturing dangerous drugs. The Council decided to invite the Italian Government to nominate a representative to be a member of the Opium Advisory Committee.

(5.) Relief of Peoples overtaken by Disaster.

62. At its forty-second session in September 1926, the Council had invited the Preparatory Committee, which had been studying the proposal for the formation of an International Relief Union, to examine the replies of the various Governments to this proposal and to submit recommendations for a conference on the subject to take place during 1927 (see "Miscellaneous No. 9 (1926)," Cmd. 2761).

63. The Council considered a report from the Preparatory Committee containing the desired recommendations and adopted a resolution approving this report, thanking the Preparatory Committee for its work and fixing the 4th July, 1927, as the date for the meeting of the above-mentioned conference in Geneva. At the same time the Secretary-General was requested to invite the International Red Cross Committee and the League of Red Cross Societies to be officially represented at the conference and to invite the members of the League and the Governments of the various non-member States to attend. On the suggestion of the British representative, the Sudan was added to the list of non-member States to be invited to the Conference.

VIII. The Economic Conference.

64. In a resolution dated the 4th September, 1925, the Sixth Assembly had invited the Council to consider the expediency of constituting a committee to prepare the ground for an International Economic Conference. A Preparatory Committee was accordingly constituted by the Council at its meeting in December 1925 and held its first session in April 1926 and its second and final session in November 1926.

65. The Council had before it the report of this Committee, containing proposals regarding the composition, programme and date of the International Economic Conference, which was supplemented by oral explanations given by M. Theunis, the chairman of the Preparatory Committee, who attended the meeting of the Council for this purpose. M. Arthur Fontaine, the president of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, who had also been invited to the Council table, stated that all the suggestions made by the various workers' and employers' organisations had been met in the Preparatory Committee's report.

66. The Council adopted a resolution approving the proposals of the Preparatory Committee and thanking this Committee and the organisations which had assisted it for their work. The Council decided to convene the International Economic Conference to meet at Geneva on the 4th May, 1927, and to issue invitations to all States Members of the League of Nations, as well as to the United States of America, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Ecuador and Egypt. The Council reserved the right to issue at its next session a limited number of supplementary invitations in case the composition of the Conference should not be sufficiently evenly balanced

67. The Netherlands representative drew attention to the fact that the members of the Conference were to be appointed by the Governments on the strength of their personal qualifications and to be independent and not the spokesmen of an official policy. M. van Karnebeek therefore enquired whether votes at the conference would be taken by delegation or individually. The chairman of the Preparatory Committee, M. Theunis, stated in reply that his Committee recommended that there should only be personal votes and that, if unanimity were not achieved, note would be taken of the names of the persons who had voted in favour of a resolution.

68. The Council offered the presidency of the Conference to M. Theunis, who intimated his acceptance.

IX.-MISCELLANEOUS.

(1.) Construction of Conference Hall.

69. The Council had received a request from the Italian Government for an extension of the time-limit fixed for the submission of plans in the competition for a design for the new Conference Hall. After hearing the explanations of M. Horta, the President of the Jury of Architects, to which these plans are to be submitted, the Council decided that it could not accede to this request.

(2.) Appointments to the Secretariat of the League.

70. The Secretary-General submitted a list of appointments to and promotions in the staff of the Secretariat. These appointments and promotions were approved by the Council; those worthy of note were Herr A. Dufour-Feronce, formerly Counsellor at the German Embassy in London, to be an Under-Secretary-General and Director of the International Bureau Section; Mr. J. Sugimura, formerly head of the Japanese Office accredited to the League of Nations, to be an Under-Secretary-General and Director of the Political Section: and Mr. Seymour Jacklin, formerly of the Civil Service of His Majesty's Government in the Union of South Africa, to be Treasurer.

AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN.

London, January 26, 1927.

League of Nations

Forty-Fourth Session of the
Council

REPORT BY THE RIGHT HON. SIR AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN, K.G., M.P.

British Delegate

Presented by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
to Parliament by Command of His Majesty

LONDON:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff;

15, Donegall Square West, Belfast;

or through any Bookseller.

1927

Price 3d. Net

Cmd. 2894