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The Soviet Union, which had not taken its seat at the first session of the Council, reiterated its insistence that the Trusteeship Council was unconstitutional and, at its first session, irregular in approving the eight trusteeship agreements. The Soviet bloc disagreed with certain of the Rules of Procedure, and proposed amendments which were aimed at increasing the powers of the Trusteeship Council beyond those conferred on it by the Charter. Sir Carl Berendsen, as Chairman, pointed out that the Committee could not alter the Rules of Procedure of the Council, but could transmit its views as recommendations to the Council through the General Assembly. Eventually it was decided that all comments on the report of the Trusteeship Council should be transmitted to it for future consideration. 2. Proposed Trusteeship Agreements (a) South-west Africa. —Through their representative, the South African Government stated that they would not proceed with the incorporation of South-west Africa within the Union, but they could not submit a trusteeship agreement for the territory because the overwhelming majority of inhabitants continued to be in favour of incorporation. The Union would continue to maintain the status quo by administering the territory in the spirit of the League of Nations mandate and would also transmit to the United Nations for its information an annual report on the administration of the territory. The right of the inhabitants to submit petitions to United Nations was denied on the grounds that such a right implied supervision by United Nations. In the general debate which then followed the New Zealand representative, Sir Carl Berendsen, recalling the New Zealand Government's consistent attitude in supporting the international supervision of backward peoples, supported the view that a strong moral obligation lay on the Union to submit a trusteeship agreement for South-west Africa. All delegations except one were in agreement that trusteeship was the most desirable solution for South-west Africa. Draft resolutions were then submitted by Denmark and India, and, after considerable amendment, the Indian resolution calling for the submission of a trusteeship agreement for consideration by the third regular session of the Assembly was adopted by 27 to 20, with 4 abstentions. New Zealand voted against this resolution on the grounds that it virtually constituted an ultimatum which, considering the state of public opinion in the Union, could only weaken the chance of persuading the South African Government to submit an