Ninth Session

The ninth meeting of the Caribbean Commission was held at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, from December 5 to 9 under the chairmanship of Ward M. Canaday (United States). One of the first items to be considered was the Secretary General's report on secretariat activities since the eighth meeting of the Commission. The Secretary-General (Cramer) reported that in addition to servicing the Commission and the Caribbean Research Council, the secretariat had carried out the publications program of the Commission, had handled numerous requests for information and assistance, and had undertaken studies on such subjects as soil erosion, Caribbean industry and the utilization of sugar by-products. The Commission approved appointments to the Caribbean Research Council and its committees on medicine, public health and nutrition, sociology and education, economics and statistics, engineering, and industrial development. It was decided to convene in 1950 a small conference of territorial statistical officers to discuss standardization of methods of reporting trade statistics. A United States paper on “Socio Economic Surveys in the Caribbean Area” which had been submitted at the eighth meeting was considered in the light of governmental comments on the projects proposed, and the Commission agreed to give priority to two projects deemed to be of the most immediate value to the social and economic development of the area: a study of Caribbean employment patterns and the factors affecting industrial productivity, and a study of educational and leadership requirements. Third order of priority was given to a survey of variations in the cost and levels of living in the various Caribbean territories.