A.—s

Bureau for the Suppression of Alcoholism, which was at the moment subsidized by thirteen States, he would desire to leave to those States the privilege of subsidizing this Bureau. At the end of the sitting the representative of Finland made the following statement: —" After a long debate which has shown the complexity of the problem, and in view of the difficulties of principle and of procedure to which it has given rise, the delegations who signed the letter, while maintaining the principle underlying their proposal, declare their intention to put it in another form." The Assembly took note of this on the 20th September. In the Assembly on the 23rd September the delegations of Finland, Poland, and Sweden gave notice of the following draft resolution, and suggested that it should be placed on the agenda of the Ninth Assembly : — " Whereas it is desirable to co-ordinate the work which the League of Nations has been or will be called upon to undertake on the subject of alcoholism : The Assembly requests the Council (1) to appoint a Committee of Experts on alcoholism ; (2) to instruct this committee to study the aspects of alcoholism falling within the competence of the League of Nations, and which could be the subject of scientific or practical work." The President concurred in this proposal, which was endorsed by the Assembly. Health Organization. This organization is doing work of great variety and importance, but. as in the sphere of intellectual co-operation, some doubt may be expressed as to whether its programme is not overloaded and whether it would not be better to deal with fewer subjects at one time. The annual report of the Health Organization is Document A. 9, and reference may also be made to the section, dealing with health, of the Secretariat Reports, Documents A. 13 and A. 13 (a). Work such as the standardization of sera, the inquiry into certain aspects of the cancer problem, and the inquiry into and very full reports on malaria, are all of world-wide interest, and the results achieved cannot but be valuable to Government Health Departments. The organization is continuing and extending its scheme of so-called interchanges of medical officers. These interchanges are, however, better described as tours. There will be a tour in British India early next year, and those taking part will include Dr. Thomas Hughes, Medical Officer of Health at Auckland. A separate report on the meeting of health experts on infant welfare and on the technical mission in the Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay (Document A. 49) was presented to the Second Committee, and gave opportunity to the Japanese delegate to make a brief but interesting speech. He laid stress on the great future of the Pacific, and put in a plea for co-operation between Japan and other countries whose main interests were in that region. Whilst much of the work of the health organization is done by, and appeals to, specialists, there yet remains a field of activity which is of interest to the practical politician, the social reformer, and the general public —for instance, the inquiry into methods of co-operation between health insurance organizations and public health services. Two reports were presented to the Assembly, one on the organization itself, and the other on the South American Mission. These are documents A. 69 and A. 68, and the resolutions with which the}'' conclude were passed on the 20th September. I would call attention to that part of the resolution dealing with the International Pacific Health Conference held in Melbourne in December, 1926, reading as follows : " Further, the Assembly, noting the recommendations which have been made by the International Pacific Health Conference held in Melbourne in December, 1926, in relation to the work which might be undertaken by the health organization for the study of health problems in the Pacific area, expresses its hope that the possibilities of action in this sense will receive full and early consideration by the Health Committee." Settlement op Bulgarian Refugees. Last year's report gave an account of the genesis of this work, which consists in settling on the land refugees in Bulgaria from surrounding countries, some of whom arrived during the Balkan wars which preceded the Great War. An agreement between the parties concerned was signed during last year's Assembly. Since then an international loan of £2,250,000 has been floated and the scheme put into operation. The work has already made good progress, and the Bulgarian delegate to the Second Committee paid an eloquent tribute to the League and to those acting for it. It is in the field of reconstruction that the League has had its greatest successes, and there is every reason to hope that the Bulgarian Refugee Settlement Scheme will be one of them. A brief but clear account of the scheme will be found in the Second Committee's report to the Assembly (Document A. 67), which passed the following resolution on the 20th September : —■ " The Assembly —(1) Welcomes with great satisfaction the successful flotation of the Bulgarian refugee loan, providing funds for the carrying-out of the scheme approved by the Council; (2) takes note of the progress which has already been made in the work of making land and houses available for the occupation of the refugees ; (3) expresses the hope that during the coming year it will be possible to record the completely satisfactory progress of the work of settlement; (4) desires to express its approbation of the courage and resolution displayed by the Bulgarian Government and the Commissioner of the League of Nations in carrying out the scheme."

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