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This last recommendation touched upon a fundamental issue—namely, whether the administering authorities are bound to consult the Council before taking important administrative action in the trust territories or whether the Council has only the right to evaluate the previous actions of an administering authority. Amid the welter of conflicting opinions on this subject the New Zealand delegation adhered to the view, which it had taken in the Trusteeship Council, that while prior consultation was neither enjoined nor forbidden by the Charter and the Trusteeship Agreements, the need for friendly relationships and constant co-operation between the Council and the administering authorities made such prior consultation desirable. Accordingly, when a series of United States amendments to the joint resolution were put to the vote, New Zealand, while supporting the deletion of certain expressions of opinion by the General Assembly which would have prejudiced the issue, abstained on a proposal to remove the recommendation that administering authorities should consult the Council before establishing any administrative union. All the United States substantive amendments having failed in the Committee, New Zealand abstained also in the vote on the joint resolution, which, with minor modifications, was adopted by the Committee by 25 votes to 12 with 10 abstentions. 3. Proposals Dealing With Educational Advancement in Certain TrustTerritories In the general discussion many representatives had stressed the importance of education in the development of trust territories, and after various proposals had been advanced a joint text was submitted to the Committee. This draft recommended that the Council should propose to the administering authorities that they should intensify their efforts to increase educational facilities, that primary education should be free and access to higher education not dependent on means, and that existing facilities for the purpose of training indigenous teachers should be improved and expanded. Finally the draft resolution recommended that, taking into account the existing facilities for higher education already provided in Africa, and the plans already made for their development, the Council should, in consultation with the administering authorities concerned (and, if considered desirable, with tJNESCO), study " the financial and technical implications of a further expansion of these facilities, including the possibility of establishing in 1952 and maintaining a University to meet the higher educational needs of the inhabitants of trust territories in Africa." This resolution was adopted by the Fourth Committee by 39 votes (N.Z.) with 6 abstentions.