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It was decided that this special Committee should meet at a date to be fixed by the Secretary-General not less than two weeks before the third regular session of the General Assembly. FIFTH COMMITTEE The Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee gave most consideration to the following six questions : 1. Budget The Secretary-General's original 1948 estimate was $39,403,792. On the advice of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, however, the estimates were subsequently reduced substantially to $34,499,762. An initial motion by the United Kingdom delegation for a $30,000,000 ceiling was rejected by 27 votes to 21. New Zealand voted with the majority, contending that important reductions must proceed from policy decisions of the Assembly, which initiated expenditure, and that the Secretariat, which had no authority to decide policy, could not fairly be asked to keep within an arbitrary figure. New Zealand, however, supported the establishment of priorities; while security and economic reconstruction clearly came first, certain other projects would benefit, quite apart from the question of economy, from a period of delay. The 1948 budget as finally approved totalled $34,825,195. A supplementary appropriation of $876,568 for 1947 was also approved. 2. Scale of Contributions No radical alteration was made in the scale of contributions adopted in 1947. The United States agreed to accept the same assessment (39*89 per cent.), but reiterated their view that ability to pay should not be the only criterion and that the General Assembly should establish a maximum and minimum limit for contributions, with due regard to the principle of the sovereign equality of members. The New Zealand contribution remained unchanged at o*so per cent. Provision was made for the optional payment of a proportion of members' 1948 contributions in currencies other than United States dollars. 3. Cost of holding the Third ULegular Session in "Europe A proposal advanced by France and Sweden that the next regular session of the Assembly should be held in Europe was criticized by the New Zealand delegate (Mr. Thorn) on both administrative and