The Board of Liquidation, appointed by the Assembly at the twenty-first session, 1 had nearly completed its work by May 1, 1947, when it issued its Fourth Interim Report. Under the chairmanship of Mr. C. J. Hambro (Norway) and vice-chairmanship of Sir Cecil Kisch (United Kingdom), the Board had been charged with winding up the affairs of the League. By May 1, 1947, the following had been accomplished:

Contributions from members which were outstanding as of August 31, 1946, totaled 29,467,845.28 Swiss francs. By April 30, 1947 this amount had been reduced to 11,098,488.61 Swiss francs owed by 21 of the former Members.

The activities of the Arab League during the period under review centered around the question of Palestine.

Following its previous stand in support of Palestinian Arabs, the Political Com-mittee of the League decided on April 17, 1947 to oppose the idea of the creation of a new committee of inquiry by the United Nations, and to support the inclusion on the agenda of the first special session of the General Assembly of an item on the abro-gation of the mandate and proclamation of Palestine's independence. It expressed the view that, in any event, terms of reference of any established inquiry committee should include the questions mentioned above. Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the League, stated on May 29, 1947, that a decision on the League's position regarding the question of cooperation with the United Nations’ committee of inquiry would be made at the seven member Conference of Foreign Ministers at Cairo in June, 1947. He emphasized that the Arab League was not concerned with Palestine alone, but also with 20,000,000 Arabs in French North Africa, and the problems of Libya and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. No action however, was taken by the Arab League in June, and a rift among Arabs over the Palestine question became evident when the Palestine Arab Higher Committee decided to boycott the inquiry commission. In a news conference on June 19, Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha stated that the Arab League, representing all independent Arab states and about 45,000,000 persons, was giving full support to Palestine independence, and that the League was cooperating with the Special Committee on Palestine despite the boycott by the Arab Higher Committee.

Agreement to begin a comprehensive survey of industries and industrial potentialities in Caribbean territories of the four member countries was reached in the fourth meeting of the Caribbean Commission which convened on June 23, 1947, at Jamaica, B.W.I., with representatives present from France, the Netherlands, United King-dom and the United States. On the basis of recommendations passed at the 1946 session of the West Indian Conference, the Commission drew up a program of action by which a panel of four experts on industrial affairs (one chosen by each national section) was to act as a committee headed by the Secretary-General of the Commission (Lawrence W. Cramer), and was to submit a report on the present and proposed state of industrial development in the Caribbean area. An adviser was to be appointed to coordinate the work of the experts and to edit the text of the final report. The Commission agreed that the report was to be ready in time for submission to the next session of the West Indian Conference, scheduled for the spring of 1948.

Fifth Meeting of American Foreign Ministers: The Foreign Ministers of the American Republics met at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 15 to begin the adoption of a formal treaty for the defense of the western hemisphere in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace held at Mexico City in March 1945. Nicaragua was not invited to attend the conference since her government, established by a coup d'etat in May, 1947, had not been recognized by the other American republics.

The Council of Foreign Ministers which met from March 10 to April 24, 1947, failed to produce an Austrian Peace treaty. It did, however, establish a Treaty Commission to meet in Vienna on May 12, 1947, for the purpose of studying unsolved problems which were blocking treaty negotiations.

During April, 1947, allied occupation authorities in Austria were chiefly concerned with 1) a draft agreement on rights and immunities of the allied forces which was postponed by the four commissioners pending study of actions taken at Moscow regarding the Austrian treaty; 2) consideration and implementation by the Executive Committee of the Austrian Government's food plan for April and May; 3) a resolution, subsequently agreed upon, which recognized that the Austrian government had the responsibility for allocating all industrial goods with the exception of explosives, and directed that the government make allocations throughout the country, transmitting quarterly allocation plans in advance to the Allied Council; 4) the question of the Austrian dual price system for goods on sale in the internal market; 5) approval of a trade agreement between Austria and Norway; 6) consideration of 25 Austrian legislative measures; and 7) denazification of university students.

In May, 1947, the question of civil aviation in Austria reappeared when efforts were made by American, British and French elements of the Allied Control Commission toward allowing Austria to plan for civil aviation development. The Soviet Commissioner, however, was not willing to discuss the creation of an air office until investigation revealed that air disarmament in Austria had been completed.

The Austrian Treaty Commission was established as a result of an agreement reached by the Council of Foreign Ministers at Moscow on April 24, 1947. The agreement of the Council provided:

The question of the termination or reorganization of ECITO, along with the Emergency Economic Committee for Europe and the European Coal Organization, was considered during May, 1947, by the Economic Commission for Europe, which called a meeting of transport experts to recommend arrangements for absorption of ECITO. Continuation of ECITO functions during the transitional period was urged by ECITO representative Zielinski at the Economic Commission's meeting.

The seventh and final plenary session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, attended by twenty-nine of its members, was held in London from May 30 to June 3, 1947. Action at the meeting included resolutions 1) that no further activities were to be undertaken by the Committee after July 1, 1947; 2) that the Executive Committee arrange for the transfer of all office equipment, motor vehicles, stock and stores to the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization; and 3) that a board of liquidation be established composed of representatives of France, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela to arrange for the disposal of surplus funds in accordance with instructions of the Executive Committee.

The sixth meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee was held in Washington from June 9 to 11, 1947. Action was taken to provide the basis for a permanent secretariat to compile statistics and lend continuity to the work of the Committee, and L. A. Wheeler (United States) was reelected chairman of the executive committee. The next meeting was scheduled for Cairo in April, 1948.

The fourth meeting of the Rubber Study Group ended its sessions in Paris on July 8, 1947, after reviewing changes in the world rubber situation from the previous meeting in November, 1946, and adopting a resolution urging 1) that membership be open to all countries substantially interested in production, consumption, or trade in rubber; 2) that the group consider ways to expand the world consumption of rubber; and 3) that a secretariat be established to arrange for the collection and dissemination of statistics. Countries attending included Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Ceylon, Denmark, Ecuador, United States, France, Hungary, Italy, Liberia, Norway, Holland, United Kingdom, British Colonies, Siam, Czechoslovakia and Venezuela, with observers from Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Guatemala, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Nations and FAO.

The sixteenth and final session of the International Technical Committee of Aerial Legal Experts (CITEJA) was convened in Montreal on May 10, 1947, with a second meeting on May 22. Represented were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Yugoslavia.

The International Tin Study Group, which parallels in general the other international study groups established for commodities, was created by an international conference held in London in October, 1946. Its functions are to review periodically the world supply and demand position of tin and to make recommendations to the member governments.

The International Wheat Conference, which convened in London on March 18, 1947, adjourned on April 23 without having reached agreement. The Conference did, however, produce a draft of an international wheat agreement which represented a greater harmony of views between producing and consuming countries than had previously been possible.

The Provisional Maritime Consultative Council, established as the result of a meeting held in October, 1946, of the United Maritime Consultative Council, held its first meeting in Paris from May 16 to 19, 1947. Represented were the governments of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, United States, France, United Kingdom, Greece, India, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland and the Union of South Africa, with Sweden and Yugoslavia represented by observers.