Australia. The delegates of these countries urged that the offices continue to concentrate on exchange of information, material, and personnel, a task which is already taxing them heavily because of the rapidly growing demand for liaison. This viewpoint prevailed, and was incorporated in the findings of the Sub-Commission. A proposal was considered for a joint technical conference on the protection of nature, in collaboration with the. International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN). The recommendation that this conference be held in July, 1949, at Lake Success, U.S.A., immediately after the United Nations Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Natural Resources (UNSCCUR) was opposed by the United Kingdom, which asked for a European site for the UNESCO-IUPN conference. No final decision was taken. The New Zealand delegate criticized the questions proposed by UNESCO for inclusion in the UNSCCUR programme, which has primarily an economic purpose. He considered that such wide generalities as " the influence of natural resources on civilization " and " the influence of the form of civilization on the use of natural resources " would not be appropriate at UNSCCUR. A resolution was approved requesting the Secretary-General of the United Nations to place the problem of soil conservation, as it affects food production and nutrition, on the agenda of the eighth session of the Economic and Social Council. Reports were available on the use made of the grants-in-aid to international scientific organizations. The Sub-Commission considered the system one of the most valuable of UNESCO's activities, greatly furthering international scientific co-operation. It strongly opposed the reduction of some $50,000 in the natural science budget, and expressed the opinion that a figure substantially higher than that of 1947 and 1948 ($240,000) should be allocated, the increase to be obtained from savings it believed could be made in the administrative expenses of the organization. A budget provision of SB,OOO was recommended for a committee of experts to consider the formation of an International Institute of the Arid Zone, comparable to the Institute of the Hylean Amazon recently set up through UNESCO's initiative and assistance. Some criticism was made of the latter Institute's " inadequate provision for research." K JOINT COMMITTEE ON PUBLICITY AND PUBLICATIONS Information Services An interesting feature of the Conference was the criticism made by the above Joint Committee (also referred to as the Committee of Fifteen) and directed against the so-called World Centre for the

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