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which to us, who were struggling with its technical imperfections, was touching and not a little chastening. On the other hand, the representatives of forty-eight countries came away from Mexico with a new appreciation of its problems, with a new respect for its cultural traditions and achievements, and, in the case of those from other continents, with some little insight into the mind of Latin-America, which is so essentially different from our own. We believe that, in view of the urgent need for building up an efficient administrative machine, we were right in voting against the Beirut proposal for 1948 ; but we are aware that a General Conference of UNESCO, apart from the resolutions it passes, is in itself an educational event of special significance to the region of the world in which it is held. We incline to the view that, after 1948, full Conferences should be held only every two or three years, perhaps in varying centres, and that in the intervening years smaller business meetings, or meetings of an enlarged Executive Board, should be held in Paris. This is a proposal that will quite possibly come up at Beirut. It was felt by many delegates that the strain of big annual conferences is too great both on the Secretariat and on the smaller member States. Official and Working Languages The designation of any language as " official" merely means that the UNESCO Constitution must be printed in that language. The five official languages prior to this Conference were English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. The delegate of India moved that Hindustani be made an official language. His motion was passed, with an amendment to the effect that the official language of any member State would become an official language of the Organization upon the request of the member State concerned. A much more difficult situation was created when the LatinAmerican delegates made a strong effort to have Spanish adopted as a " working " language, which would have involved its use at all conferences, and would have necessitated all UNESCO papers and publications appearing in Spanish as well as in English and French. The New Zealand delegate voted against the adoption of Spanish as a working language, partly because of the additional expense involved, and partly because of the frustration and waste of time that would inevitably result from a tiresome series of consecutive translations at meetings. Feeling ran high. The motion to adopt Spanish was lost, and a United Kingdom resolution was passed suggesting to the Executive Board that it look into the matter further in co-operation with the Co-ordinating Committee of the United Nations and its specialized agencies.
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