A—ll

and Social Council; elected Mexico and Iraq to form, together with. Australia, Belgium, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom, China, Soviet Union, and United States, the newly constituted Trusteeship Council. The main work of the session was performed in the Assembly Committees, indicated below ; but early in the proceedings a general debate was held in plenary .meetings, in which most delegations took part, and Sir Carl Berendsen attracted wide attention by his outspoken attack on the principle of the veto included in the voting procedure laid down in the charter for the Security Council. This question of the veto, which was commented on by most delegates in their opening speeches, was also debated at length in the First (Political and Security) Committee. The deliberations of this Committee allow those countries, including New Zealand, which are not for the time being represented on the Security Council, their main opportunity to discuss and criticize the Council's work during the year. The debates were long and hard-fought. Although a Cuban proposal, supported by New Zealand, for a conference to revise the Charter was rejected, and an Australian draft resolution calling on the permanent members of the Council to restrict their use of the veto was considerably modified, the strong dissatisfaction with the use made of the veto power in the Council, particularly by the U.S.S.R., which was expressed by many delegations remains on record. The First Committee also considered other questions previously under discussion in the Security Council, including the admission of new members, the attitude of the United Nations towards the Franco regime in Spain, and the supply of information on armed forces, and also a new proposal by the Soviet Union for the reduction and regulation of armaments. The Joint First and Sixth Committee considered the position of Indians in South Africa. Although there was some doubt whether this question was within the competence of the Assembly, which is debarred from considering questions essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of member States, a proposal, which New Zealand supported, to refer this legal point to the International Court of Justice was rejected, and a resolution was adopted calling on the two States concerned to endeavour to reach an agreement on the question before the next session of the Assembly. Contentious though all these subjects were, a considerable measure of agreement was reached on all of them. The resolution on the related subjects of disarmament and disclosure of military information may reasonably be regarded not only as a successful compromise, but as an important first step in the direction of the regulation and reduction of armaments. Although publicity tended to concentrate on the questions under debate in the First Committee, those dealt with by the remaining Committees were no less important for New Zealand. In particular, New Zealand, as a trustee State, required strong representation on the Trusteeship Committee, and to some extent this made difficult adequate representation on certain of the other Committees. Discussions in the Second and Third Committees, which considered separately and jointly economic and social questions, were also of special concern to New Zealand in view of her election at this session of the Assembly to a three-year term on the Economic and Social Council. The Second Committee dealt with the world shortage of cereals, relief needs on the termination of UNRRA, and the economic reconstruction of devastated areas. Together the Second and the Third Committees received and discussed the report of the Economic and Social Council on its work during the first six months of its existence. A matter in which the New Zealand delegation took particular interest was the discussion on the rights of women in the Third Committee (of which Sir Carl Berendsen was Chairman) ; Mrs. Mcintosh, as New Zealand representative, warmly supported a resolution which was passed calling on all States to accord women the same political rights as men. New Zealand was represented on a special sub-committee set up to consider the establishment of an International Emergency Children's Fund, and is now among the twenty-five Governments represented on the Executive Board of this Fund. During the long discussion on refugees New Zealand representatives supported the view

5