production of fats and oils for the year ending June, 1947, would be 5 to 10 per cent, above the previous year, but 15 per cent, under pre-war totals. The position in respect of fertilizers was fairly satisfactory as far as phosphates and potash were concerned, but nitrogen was in very short supply. Following these statements a long general discussion took place, during which a number of draft resolutions were put forward by Canada, Argentina, the Soviet Union, Greece, Saudi Arabia, and China. A drafting Committee was then set up with a view to incorporating the various proposals into one text. A resolution making specific recommendations on the action necessary to improve production and distribution was adopted by the Committee and approved by the General Assembly. 1 Perhaps the most important item on the agenda of the Second Committee was that of framing a resolution on UNRRA, and a great deal of time was spent in debating this question. Mr F. H. La Guardia, Director-General of UNRRA, appeared before the Committee by invitation, and advocated that UNRRA should be succeeded by an international authority under the control of the United Nations. Assuming that the International Bank for Reconstruction would assist the needs of industrialists and in part agriculturalists, Mr La Guardia proposed that a United Nations Food Emergency Fund be established and said that the Food Fund would require $400,000,000 to enable it to operate. He stressed that what was proposed was not another organization having the world-wide machinery of UNRRA, but " a small tight agency " with power to determine the countries having a shortage of any food and to make allocation of goods or funds to help them. He urged immediate action to bridge the gap when UNRRA ended, and insisted that the new agency must be an international authority under the United Nations rather than a group of wealthy nations banded together to give assistance where they thought fit. In the course of the lengthy debate which followed it soon became evident that the proposal of Mr La Guardia did not find favour with the countries which had been the largest contributors to UNRRA. The delegate of the United States, after paying tribute to the achievements of UNRRA, said that as a result there had been considerable improvements in receiving countries. His delegation felt that the present problem was essentially a short-term one; a new international organization would take too long to operate efficiently in the emergency of the moment. A better method of dealing with the problem was by means of informal and direct consultations between Governments able and willing to assist. The United Kingdom delegation thought that the work of UNRRA should be merged in the United Nations. After a number of compromise proposals had been submitted, a resolution proposed by the delegations of the United States, United

1 Document A/213.

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