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respectively. Much concern had been expressed, both in the Council and in the fourth (Trusteeship) Committee of the General Assembly,, by the non-administering Powers that such unions constituted a threat to the political individuality of the trust territories. The United Kingdom, Belgium, and Australia, while asserting that they acted entirely on the authority of the trusteeship agreements, gave assurances that the political status of the trust territories would be respected, and stressed the advantages of common services between the trust and adjacent colonial territories. The Fourth Committee finally adopted a resolution recommending that the whole question be investigated by the Trusteeship Council. The Council was directed to seek safeguards for the continuance of the " distinct political status " of the territories, investigate unions already constituted or proposed, and ask the advice of the International Court of Justice, where relevant, as to the compatibility of such unions with the Charter and trusteeship agreements. On a recommendation that the administering authority should consult the Trusteeship Council prior to establishing any such union, the New Zealand delegation maintained that, though such consultation was neither enjoined nor forbidden by the Charter or trusteeship agreements, it was desirable that there should be the fullest co-opera-tion and understanding between Council and administering authority. The recommendation that the Trusteeship Council should be consulted before any administrative unions were established was not passed by the necessary two-thirds majority in the plenary session of the General Assembly, but the Council was authorized by the General Assembly to set up a sub-committee to examine the question of administrative unions, and a report will be presented to the Council at its fifth session in June, 1949. (iii) Special and Visiting Missions In the Trusteeship Committee of the Assembly a number of delegations praised the " helpful and liberal" attitude of the New Zealand Government, which had then already implemented most of the recommendations made by the United Nations Mission to Western Samoa in 1947. In reply, the New Zealand representative stressed the importance of such Missions both to Council members and to peoples of the trusteeship areas ; informed decisions of the Council based on the reports of such Missions would certainly be more helpful to administering authorities and inhabitants than a priori judgments. The first periodic visiting Mission of the Trusteeship Council to Ruanda Urundi (Belgium) and Tanganyika (United Kingdom) took place in July-August, 1948. The four-member Mission reported