A.—s.

The Rapporteur to the Sixth Committee, M. Jonkheer de Graeff, former Foreign Minister in the Netherlands, contented himself with bringing down a brief report which admirably sums up the tendencies of the debate, and concludes with a resolution which for convenience of reference I quote. This resolution was passed by the Assembly on the 30th September (Document A. 50). " The Assembly— " Having noted the activity of the mandatory powers, the Permanent Mandates Commission, and the Council concerning the application of the principles laid down in Article 22 of the Covenant and the texts of the mandates : " (a) Renews the expression of confidence in them voted by previous sessions of the Assembly, and pays a tribute to the results they have achieved, thanks to a close and frank co-operation which it is essential to maintain; " (b) Expresses its conviction that the problem of Palestine, which is at present before the Council, will be equitably settled, account being taken to the fullest possible extent of all the legitimate interests at stake." Intellectual Co-opebation. At what point does a subject purely national in scope become of international importance ? In these days of improved facilities for education, quick transit, and broadcasting, the question is difficult to answer, but I think one is entitled to inquire whether all the work which has been taken in hand by the organ of Intellectual Co-operation is international in importance and scope. The organ has done, and can continue to do, excellent work ; it can pave the way for a study leading to a more sympathetic understanding of national cultures ; it can rectify mistakes such as occur in books concerning foreign peoples used for the teaching of the young ; it can do many things which have a common goal—the cause of peace. Since the early years of the League, when the Institute of Intellectual Co-operation was established in Paris by the generosity of the French Government, the organ has grown, and through its various committees and the National Committees which so many countries have set up it can claim perhaps a nearer approach to that state of universality by which alone in the opinion of some the League can be saved. After some thirteen years we have reached a point at which it is suggested that a conference should be convened for the purpose of framing an international convention under which those States party to it shall maintain National Committees of Intellectual Co-operation in their respective countries and make financial contributions to the Institute itself. Let us for a moment forget the future in contemplation of the present. We find that at a session held in Madrid in May, 1936, to study scientific questions there were discussed such subjects as raw materials, markets, and colonial questions, subjects of importance and well worthy of discussion, but two, at any rate, of these questions form the subject of study by technical organs of the League. Again, some attention has been paid to the placing of intellectual workers, amongst whom unemployment has been rife, but this matter has already received the careful attention of the International Labour Office. My remarks are not intended to decry the work of any particular organ of the League, but I do question whether there is not a considerable waste of effort in the overlapping which is met with again and again. Let us frankly face realities. The exchange of views concerning the teaching of youth which will make it possible for a boy or a girl to become a good internationalist and at the same time live a healthy national life is all to the good. It is even commendable that certain aspects of political questions should be studied by such an organ as that of Intellectual Co-operation, but to suggest, as has been suggested in some quarters, that the scope of the organ's work should be increased to the extent of dealing with questions which by their nature are questions of high policy is, I think, to go too far. When the Committee of Intellectual Co-operation was established the Assembly decided that its aim should be " the better organization of international activities throughout the world." This phrase perhaps offers to the Committee a wider scope of activity than some of its authors could have contemplated. Concentration of effort should be the guiding principle in the League's activities if the League is to become that reality in national as well as international life for which its wellwishers hope. A considerable number of documents came before the Sixth Committee, and these are enumerated : — C. 326, M. 219, 1937, XII: Report of the Governing Body of the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation. C. 327, M. 220, 1937, XII : Report of the Committee on the Work of its Nineteenth Plenary Session. The report of the Rapporteur, M. Edouard Herriot, the well-known French politician and writer, however, forms an admirable introduction for any one desirous of studying the work of intellectual co-operation in detail. In referring to the work on intellectual co-operation in some what .critical terms, I would not have it thought that the organization is superfluous. But if, as seems possible, Governments should contribute directly towards the support of the organization and voice their views through their Nationifl Committees, one wonders what the future may bring forth. The work is of a kind which appeals perhaps more to the Latin than to the Anglo-Saxon temperament. I understand that when the Institute was founded there was here and there suspicion that the object of the foundation was mainly political —in short, that it was an attempt to bring pressure on the League through intellectual channels to face problems in a certain way. That may have been so. There does not seem to be evidence of this to-day, although it must be a source of gratification to a great nation like the French to have in the capital of their country an Institute with such wide ramifications. The Sixth Committee was very fortunate in its Rapporteur on this question; M. Edouard Herriot is admirably qualified to deal with the whole subject, for, apart from his intellectual gifts, which are

23