At the seventh regular meeting of the Danube Commission in December 1952 it was decided to extend the mandate of the special commission established in July 1952 to examine the Yugoslav proposal for amendment of the rules of procedure and the Statute until the eighth regular meeting. However, despite Yugoslav objections, the report of the special commission was not put on the agenda for the eighth meeting. Also discussed at the seventh meeting were the Yugoslav failure to pay dues for the preceding year, and the action of Yugoslavia in taking over control of the locomotive traction of the Sip Canal. Yugoslavia took the position that it had a right to defend its national interests in the light of previous breach of contract by other Commission members. With Yugoslavia objecting to both nominations, the meeting elected the Rumanian representative as chairman and the Soviet delegate as secretary of the Com-mission, the latter for a term of three years.

The sixteenth meeting of the Caribbean Commission was opened in Paramaribo, Surinam, on May 11, 1953; the principal items on the agenda concerned recommendations made by the Fifth West Indian Conference. The Commission endorsed the recommendations of the Preparatory Committee for the Joint Conference on Education and Small-Scale Farming, to be sponsored jointly by the Commission and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; the Preparatory Committee had recommended that a Single conference be held on the two subjects, that these questions be viewed from the point of view of their contribution to community and economic development, that each government in the area be invited to send two delegates, and that the conference be held in Trinidad in October 1954. The Commission agreed to the preparation of a number of research and problem papers for the conference, emphasizing the desirability of obtaining the assistance of UNESCO, the United States Technical Cooperation Administration, and member governments in preparing them. Plans for the conference were coordinated with those of the Sixth West Indian Conference, a principal item on whose agenda was to be the report of the conference on education and small scale farming.

According to press information, a study of the effects of atomic and hydrogen weapons on the strategy of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Forces, Europe (SHAPE) had been concluded in the summer of 1954 after more than nine months preparation. Although the report itself was said to be classified “cosmic top secret”, it was reported to have concluded, first, that future warfare would inevitably be atomic and, second, that the peak of destruction in a future war would come at the outset, rather than building up gradually as in the past. It was further reported that the study had led to the conclusion that the initial target for atomic weapons would be the opposing air, ground and naval forces and not, as had previously been believed, the industrial areas. The results of this study would, it was felt, affect SHAPE military goals so that they would Stress a permanent “ready” force of approximately 25 first-class divisions and about 9,000 highly trained modern jet aircraft.

The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration held its fifth session at Geneva from April 16 to 24, 1953. Representatives were present from 21 of the 22 member governments, and several non-member governments and agencies sent observers. The subcommittee on finances reported that gross income had amounted to $26,114,357 in 1952, and gross expenditures totaled $19,446,549, leaving a budgetary surplus of $6,667,808. Reimbursements for movements completed in 1952 had been “most satisfying”, but it was anticipated that a slower rate of reimbursement would prevail in 1953, and that additional funds would therefore be required. The subcommittee also re-ported that between February 1, 1952, and December 21, 1952, 77,626 persons, among them 31,226 refugees, had been moved from Europe. The Director, Mr. Hugh Gibson, reported the following developments in the activities of ICEM: 1) provision had been made for training building laborers in Italy destined to migrate to Brazil (in collaboration with the Brazilian and Italian governments and the International Labor Organization), and for a number of preselection projects; 2) in Greece, in collaboration with UNESCO, a language training program for prospective migrants to Australia had been initiated; 3) Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela were making “definite progress” in the area of land resettlement; and 4) other projects of a “technical nature” were being considered. The fifth session also studied a draft constitution for the Committee which had been prepared by the Director at the request of the fourth session. The delegates concluded that eventual acceptance of the constitution by member governments would give the Committee “more stability and an anticipated life span of from three to five years”, and decided to refer the draft agreement to governments for comment before the next session of ICEM.

The six signatories of the European Defense Community Treaty — France, the German Federal Republic, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg —met in Brussels from August 19 to 22 to consider changes in the treaty which the French Premier, Pierre Mendès-France, felt were essential if it were to be ratified by the French National Assembly. Such a meeting had been proposed by Mr. Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister, and endorsed by the other Foreign Ministers of the Benelux nations on June 22. After a meeting with Mr. Spaak in Paris on June 30, Mr. Mendes-France agreed on the usefulness of such a meeting as soon as the French government had made known its views on the treaty as it stood at that time and before the French National Assembly voted on its ratification.

The third annual meeting of the International Commission for Northwest Atlantic Fisheries was held in New Haven, Conn., from May 25 to May 30, 1953. For the first time all signatory governments were represented by commissioners, Norway, Portugal, Italy, and France having ratified the convention in the interval between the second and the third meetings. The first regulation established by the commission, concerning the size of meshes in the nets used in the haddock fishery off the New England coast, had been proposed at the preceding annual meeting. It was strengthened at the third meeting and entered into force on June 1, 1953. In addition, the commission made recommendations to its members concerning the improvement of the statistical work of the members and of the commission, and adopted a “comprehensive research program for the Convention area”. The commission chose Halifax, Nova Scotia, as the site of its permanent headquarters, and elected Stewart Bates of Canada as chairman and Commander Tavares de Almeida of Portugal as vice-chairman for the ensuing two years.

The second session of the twelfth plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee was held in Washington from November 2 to 12, 1953. The first session, held in Washington from May 4 to 5, 1953, had been concerned with budgetary matters and the exchange of information. Representatives of 28 members of the committee as well as observers from 24 non-member governments and six international organizations were present at the second session which considered a technical study proposing three possible types of international cotton agreements: 1) a multilateral contract, under which quantitative quotas and minimum and maximum prices for each importing and exporting country would be established; 2) a buffer stock agreement, which would also set floor and ceiling prices for cotton and under which there would exist buffer stocks, held by member governments or by an international agency which would be built up in times of surplus and drawn on in times of shortage; 3) a combination of 1) and 2). The meeting failed to agree on any of these, and referred the question to the standing committee for further study. Other resolutions of the committee at this meeting included recommendations to the standing committee to study means of increasing cotton consumption to close the ten percent gap between production and consumption, and to circulate information about the terms of external trade of cotton importing and exporting countries, and a recommendation to the secretariat to begin publishing textile statistics. E. D. White (United States) was reelected chairman of the standing committee. In closing, the session accepted the invitation of the government of Brazil to hold its next plenary meeting in Sao Paulo.

Annual Report: The fourth annual report of the Managing Board of the European Payments Union covered the period July 1, 1953 to June 30, 1954. The financial year 1953–1954, the report noted, was marked by a general improvement in the balance of payments of member countries with the Union, an overall trend which had been apparent in the previous financial year. However, during 1952–1953 there had been a reduction of the largest extreme positions i n EPU, whereas during 1953–1954 there had been considerable increase in some of these positions. The restoration of internal economic stability, which had begun in a number of member countries in 1952–1953, was continued during 1953–1954; during the earlier period, the improvement had been accompanied by a relative stagnation in industrial production, but during the period 1953–1954 the increase of industrial production was fairly marked, especially i n chemical products and textiles, in agriculture and in building.

A report of the activities of the International Materials Conference during its first operative year was issued in March 1952. Concerning the accomplishments of IMC during the preceding year the report stated, “The major accomplishment … was the development of plans for international distribution of the materials in short supply and securing their prompt acceptance by the participating countries”. The plans for the distribution of metals recognized three categories of needs, namely: 1) defense, 2) strategic stockpiling, and 3) essential civilian consumption. These allocation plans, which were to be administered by the member countries, the IMC not having actual materials at its disposal for direct distribution, were designed to include the total production at the disposal of the member countries, and the report stated that, for the most part, the allocations had been carried out as planned. In many cases the commodity committees also recommended to their members the adoption of conservation and end-use control measures for those commodities. The report also noted an increase in market stability and a downward trend in prices during the preceding period. In discussing plans for the ensuing year, the report anticipated continued shortages, necessitating plans for distribution, in the commodities with which IMC dealt. However, it held, the activities of the various committees would gradually take on a more long term character as the immediately pressing problems were solved, and “In the field of production, studies of future requirements and probable availabilities, based upon programs for increasing production already under way, will be required.”

The Tenth Inter-American Conference was held in Caracas, Venezuela, from March 1 through 28, 1954, under the presidency of Dr. Aureliano Otanez, Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs. Twenty American states sent delegations to the Conference1 which was also attended by observers from inter-American agencies and the United Nations and its specialized agencies. It was decided that the Eleventh Inter-American Conference would be held in Quito, Ecuador (LXIV).

The Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean was signed at Tokyo on May 9, 1952, on behalf of Canada, Japan, and the United States, and came into effect on June 12, 1953, upon the exchange of ratifications by the three governments at Tokyo. The first meeting of the Commission was held in Washington, D.C., in February 1954. Canada, the United States, and Japan sent representatives, and invitations to send observers were extended to FAO, the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the International Salmon Fisheries Commission, the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. The purposes of the conference were “to decide matters of organization, to prepare coordinated programs of research on the stocks of fish that are of common concern to the three countries, and, generally, to carry out the commitments of the convention”. The Commission decided to establish temporary headquarters at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C.

On September 8, 1954, representatives of the United States, United Kingdom, France, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand signed the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, a protocol designating the areas to which the treaty was to apply, and the Pacific Charter, a declaration setting forth the aims of the eight countries in southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific. Negotiations leading up to the actual signature of the treaty had been underway throughout the summer of 1954 and had culminated in an eight-power conference in Manila which opened on September 6.

The International Whaling Commission held its fourth meeting in London from June 3 to June 6, 1952. Represented were all of the seventeen member governments except Mexico, namely: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Sweden, the Union of South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission elected Dr. Remington Kellogg (United States) chairman, and Dr. J. G. Lienesh (the Netherlands) vice-chairman. Amendments to paragraph 6, paragraph 8 (c), and paragraph 8 (e) of the schedule of the International Whaling Convention were adopted at the meeting, and entered into force in September 1952. In closing, the Commission agreed that research in new methods of whale marking should be pursued, “but if funds should not allow this, marking by the existing methods should continue. The current catch limits … were extended to the 1952/53 season, retaining the same opening date now in force.”

The eighth session of the International Wheat Council was reconvened in Washington from February 2 to April 13, 1953, and the eleventh session of the Council was also held in Washington from January 30 to April 2, 1953. On April 13, 1953, the Agreement Revising and Renewing the International Wheat Agreement was opened for signature. The agreement provided for the following sales of wheat for each of the ensuing three years: the United States, 270,174,615 bushels; Canada, 250,000,000 bushels; Australia, 75,000,000 bushels, with a clause providing for revision downward in the event of drought; and France, 367,347 bushels. The price range per bushel provided for in the new agreement was $1.55 to $2.05, as against $1.20 to $1.80 in the previous agreement. Britain objected to the maximum of $2.05, stating that $2.00 was a “generous settlement”, and withdrew from the agreement.