be taken by the Government of the Republic of China to bring about the suppression of the illegal production and use of opium in China and requests the Council to invite those Governments to send representatives with plenipoteniary powers to a conference for the purpose and to report to the Council at the earliest possible date. VI. The Assembly, having noted with satisfaction that, in accordance with the hope expressed in the fourth resolution adopted by the Assembly in 1922, the Advisory Committee has reported that the information now available makes it possible for the Governments concerned to examine, with a view to the conclusion of an agreement, the question of the limitation of the amounts of morphine, heroin or cocaine and their respective salts to be manufactured; of the limitation of the amounts of raw opium and the coca leaf to be imported for that purpose and for other medicinal and scientific purposes; and of the limitation of the production of raw opium and the coca leaf for export to the amount required for such medicinal and scientific purposes, requests the Council, as a means of giving effect to the principles submitted by the representatives of the United States of America, and to the policy which the League, on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, has adopted, to invite the Governments concerned to send representatives with plenipotentiary powers to a conference for this purpose, to be held, if possible, immediately after the conference mentioned in Resolution V. The Assembly also suggests, for the consideration of the Council, the advisability of enlarging this conference so as to include within its scope all countries which are Members of the League, or parties to the convention of 1912, with a view to securing their adhesion to the principles that may be embodied in any agreement reached. At the request of the United States the Council on September 29, 1923, passed a resolution providing that the two conferences should follow each other and that the first should be convened in July, 1924. Subsequently at the 27th session of the Council, on the request of the United States, the conferences were postponed, and the first will be convened on November 17, 1924. The special League committee to prepare the program of the general conference convened at Geneva from March 6-10, under the presidency of M. van Wettum of the Advisory Committee. The committee included M. Bourgeois of France, Sir Malcolm Delevingne of Great Britain, Edwin L. Neville of the Far Eastern Division of the United States Department of State; M. Henri Brenier and Sir John Jordan, European assessors of the Advisory Committee. XIV. THE HEALTH ORGANIZATION Provisional Health Organization-The health activities of the League are due to Art. 23 (f) of the Covenant which provides that "the Members of the League will endeavor to take steps in matters of international concern for the prevention and control of disease"; to Art. 24 declaring that all international bureaus should be under the direction of the League; and to Art. 25 by which Members agree to encourage and promote the establishment and co-operation of voluntary Red Cross organizations "having as purpose the improvement of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world." Program-The First Assembly established what is collectively known as the International Health Organization by a resolution passed on December 10, 1920, which provides: It will be the task of the organization to deal with such matters as affect individual countries only in their relation to other countries. The main functions of the organization may be summarized under the headings which follow: a. To advise the League of Nations in matters affecting health; b. To bring administrative health authorities in different countries into closer relationship with each other; c. To organize means of more rapid interchange of information on matters where immediate precautions against disease may be required, and to simplify methods for acting rapidly thereon; d. To promote the conclusion of international agreements necessary for administrative action in matters of health, and their revision when required, and to collect information as to their fulfilment; e. To co-operate with the International Labor Office in matters affecting labor and health; f. To confer and co-operate with Red Cross Societies and other similar societies; g. To advise, when requested, other voluntary organizations in health matters of international concern; h. To organize missions in connection with matters of health. General Health Committee-Failure to Organize-The Universal Sanitary Convention signed at Rome, December 9, 1907, established a formal Office international d'Hygiène publique. This office in June, 1919, voted that it should be placed under the direction of the League. Under the chairmanship of Viscount Astor, the British Ministry of Health convened a conference at the request of the Council on April 13, 1920, to draft a scheme of organization for the health activities of the League. This conference laid down the general lines of the organization as defined above. It also determined the relationship between the new organization and the Paris office. It was provided that the Paris office should be maintained and that its delegates should be members of the League's General Committee. The Office international d'Hygiène publique found itself unable to accept the invitation of the Council to appoint representatives to sit on the proposed Committee, on the ground that the United States, which was a member of the Office international, was not willing that any international organization, on which it was represented, should in any way be attached to the League. This decision was taken by the Office international d'Hygiène publique on April 25, 1921. Permanent Health Organization—Following the failure of the Office international to co-operate, the Council resumed consideration of the question on June 22, 1921. It decided that, in view of the refusal of the Office international d'Hygiène publique to participate, the Provisional Technical Committee should be composed of not more than 12 persons, individually invited to sit, on the strength of their technical qualifications and not of their nationality, together with a representative nominated by the International Labor Office and a representative nominated by the League of Red Cross Societies. A special mixed committee consisting of an equal number of the Health Committee of the League and the Office international d'Hygiène publique met at Paris from May 27-June 2, 1923, to prepare "a scheme for the constitution of the permanent health organization." The scheme formulated was approved by the Council of the League on July 7, 1923, and by the Fourth Assembly. It provides for the following organs: The Health Organization of the League of Nations consists of: (1) A General Advisory Health Council; (2) A Standing Health Committee; (3) A Health Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations. I. The Committee of the Office international d'Hygiène publique will act as the General Advisory Health Council. The Office international d'Hygiène publique will remain autonomous and retain its seat in Paris without any modification in its constitution or functions. II. The Standing Health Committee will consist of the President of the Committee of the Office international d'Hygiène publique and 15 other members (public health experts or officers). Nine of these members will be appointed individually for three years by the Committee of the Office international d'Hygiène publique in such a way that each state which is a permanent Member of the Council of the League of Nations is represented on the Standing Health Committee. The remaining six members will be appointed, also for a period of three years, by the Council of the League of Nations after consultation with the Standing Health Committee. The Standing Health Committee may be supplemented by the addition of not more than four public health experts as assessors; these assessors will be appointed by the Council of the League of Nations on the nomination of the Standing Health Committee and will be considered as fully effective members. General Advisory Health Council. I. The General Advisory Health Council will consider, discuss, advise or report on any question which may be submitted to it by the Standing Health Committee of the League of Nations. II. It will initiate and transmit to the Standing Health Committee of the League of Nations any question which it may consider will be advanced by such a procedure. III. The Health Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations and the Office international d'Hygiène publique will keep closely in touch. Each will communciate to the other all documents relating to its work. A copy of each of these documents will be sent direct to every member of the Committee of the Office international d'Hygiène publique and of the Standing Health Committee of the League of Nations. IV. Supplementary expenses incurred by the Office international d'Hygiène publique as the result of requests from the Council of the League of Nations will be defrayed by the General Secretariat of the League. Standing Health Committee. I. The Standing Health Committee will direct the health work of the League of Nations, and, in particular, it will, through a Medical Director, direct the work of the Health Section of the Secretariat. II. It will consider and report to the Council of the League of Nations on any public health question concerning the League of Nations which may be submitted to it or initiated by the Standing Health Committee itself. III. It has the right to appoint special committees to consider any inquiry, research or other public health matter, and it has the power to add to such special subcommittees any outside person whose qualifications it may consider will further the purpose aimed at. IV. In order to enable the General Advisory Health Council to fulfil its duties, the Standing Health Committee will forward to the President of the Committee of the Office international d'Hygiène publique a yearly report relating to the work carried out by the Health Organization of the League of Nations during the preceding year. This report will also set out the questions with which the Standing Health Committee proposes to deal, to the extent of its competence as defined by the Council and the Assembly of the League of Nations. Health Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations. The Health Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations will form the Secretariat of the Health Organization of the League. It will be under the direction of the Medical Director. The functions and duties of the Health Section will be those laid down by the Standing Health Committee subject to approval by the SecretaryGeneral of the League of Nations. Meetings-1. August 25-29, 1921, Geneva. 2. October 20-22, 1921, Paris. 7. February 11-21, 1924, Geneva. The permanent Health Organization now holds regular sessions twice a year. The members of the Standing Health Committee are at present: Prof. Léon BERNARD (France), Sir George BUCHANAN (Great Britain), Dr. Alexander GRANVILLE PASHA Dr. Alice HAMILTON (United States), Prof. Ricardo JORGE (Portugal), Dr. Alberto LUTRARIO (Italy), Dr. Bernnard NоCHT (Germany), Prof. Gustave PITTALUGA (Spain), Dr. O. VELGHE (Belgium), (until appointment of Japanese mem- Epidemic Commission-Early in 1919 the League of Red Cross Societies drew the attention of its constitutent societies to the |