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POLITICAL AND TERRITORIAL COMMISSION FOR FINLAND Officers Chairman Mr J. A. Beasley (Australia) Vice-Chairman Dr P. Fisa (Czechoslovakia) Rapporteur Viscount Hood (United Kingdom) New Zealand Representatives Hon. H. G. R. Mason Brigadier R. S. Park Mr F. H. Corner Eight meetings sufficed for the consideration of the political and territorial clauses of the Finnish treaty, which aroused less controversy than any of the other treaties presented to the Conference. Of these eight meetings, the equivalent of more than three were spent in discussing procedure, nearly four were occupied in consideration of the amendments advanced by Australia, and the remainder of the treaty itself was disposed of in the equivalent of one meeting. Most of the time of this one meeting was devoted to Article 33, the only article on which the Council of Foreign Ministers were not agreed. Twelve States composed the Commission : U.S.A., Australia, ByeloRussia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France('), India, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ukraine, U.S.S.R., and the Union of South Africa. U.S.A. .attended none of the meetings. Those parts of the draft treaty for Finland which were referred to the Commission were : Preamble. Articles 1-12. Articles 32-34. The Preamble of the draft treaty was approved, with a recommendation to the Plenary Conference that two alterations (proposed by Australia) be made —the first the inclusion of a phrase stating that the treaty should conform to the principles of justice, and the second the transposition of two sentences. Articles 1 and 2, by which the transfer of the Province of Petsamo to the Soviet Union is confirmed, were approved unanimously and without comment( 2 ), as were all the political clauses (Articles 3to 5), including Article 4, by which Finland will grant the Soviet Union a

(!) The U.S.S.R. maintained that France's vote should never be counted, since she was not at war with Finland. ( 2 ) In the voting in the plenary conference U.S.A. reserved her position on Article 1 and Annex 1, presumably as a protest against the inadequacy of the map -of the territory to be ceded which was prepared and submitted by the Soviet Union.