Annual Report:The fifth annual report of the Managing Board of the European Payments Union (EPU) covered the period July I, 1954 to June 30, 1955. The financial year 1954—1955, the report noted, had been one of considerable economic expansion in member countries, although with some variation between them; the progress of the previous year, which had followed upon a period of relative stagnation, had continued and gathered momentum. The report noted that in some countries the rapid expansion had had repercussions both internally and externally which had required corrective measures. During 1954–1955 industrial production had increased greatly, the increase being most marked in base metal manufacturing, metal products and in chemical manufacturing. However, agricultural production of member countries, as a whole, had not changed from the previous year. The report stated that the greater industrial production had been the result of both increased employment and productivity; in a number of countries unemployment had been reduced to new low levels and in certain countries, the number of unfilled vacancies exceeded that of the registered unemployed. Concurrently, and in connection with the rapid economic expansion, salaries and wages had increased in practically all member countries to a much greater extent than in previous years.

The South Pacific Commission held its fourteenth session at Anse Vata, Noumea from October 24 to November 9,1955 under the chairmanship of Mr. R. Lassalle-Sere, Senior Commissioner for France. The Secretary-General (Bedell), in his report to the Commission, emphasized the value of the friendly spirit and cooperative effort that existed among the six participating governments and their territories in the South Pacific. The Commission approved the arrangements for the Third South Pacific Conference to be held at Suva, Fiji beginning on April 23, 1956 and voted a budget up to £14,000 for the purposes of the Conference. The Conference was to be attended by delegates from the territories of the participating governments in the South Pacific. The Commission decided to give regional health education strong emphasis in its program for 1956–1957, and suggested that the establishment of a short training course in health education in 1957 be considered. The Commission announced that during 1955 the dietitian on the Commission's team of specialists working with the territories on the major problem of improving infant and adult nutrition in the South Pacific had completed five years of special field studies on infant nutrition and maternal welfare in the region, and that Dr. M. O. T. Iyengar, research specialist in mosquito-borne diseases, would continue his work in that field during 1956.

The second part of the first session of the Assembly of Western European Union (WEU) was held in Strasbourg on October 24 and 28, 1955 under the chairmanship of Mr. John Maclay, President of the Assembly (United Kingdom, National Liberal and Conservative). A draft charter and draft rules of procedure, the chief items on the agenda, were presented to the Assembly on behalf of the Committee on Organization by the rapporteur, Mr. van der Goes van Naters (Netherlands, Socialist), who stated that the method of creating new organizations in Europe had empirical merits, but that there was a danger of inefficient use of Europe's resources as a whole; he felt that the best possible use should be made of parliamentary time; that parliamentarians should not sit on committees that duplicated each other's work; and that no new assemblies should be created without a careful examination of the burdens involved. Mr. van der Goes van Naters declared that collaboration between the ministerial and parliamentary organs of WEU was the keynote of the charter; in order to avoid a clash between the ministers and the Assembly, the charter had been drafted so as to avoid making general rules to govern future and unknown situations and to allow for each case to be treated on its merits as it arose. He stated that with the exception of two provisions where the assent of the Council of Europe must first be sought, the charter contained no provisions on which the Assembly could not decide for itself.

The fourth annual report prepared for the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was divided into three sections, dealing respectively with 1) recent developments in the structure and pattern of international trade, 2) developments in commercial policy, and 3) the principal activities of the Contracting Parties during the period under review. International trade during 1955, the report stated, had established new records both in value and in volume; in the first half of the year, the value of world exports had exceeded $80,000 million (at an annual rate), and in the second half it rose by a further $5,700 million, thus reaching a value about 13 percent above that of 1951. Taking the year as a whole, the value of world exports had been about $83,300 million. In terms of volume, the increase had been even greater, since export prices had been appreciably below the level of 1951, and in the second half of 1955 the volume of world exports had reached a level exceeding that of 1951 by 21 percent. The increase in volume had also represented a further acceleration in the speed of its growth. There had been three major developments in international trade in 1955, the report stated: 1) the rise in value of world exports in 1955 again had been mainly accounted for by trade among industrial countries, while the relative importance of the non-industrial areas had continued to decline; 2) the increase in the export trade of the industrial countries in 1955 had been shared by North America and by the other industrial areas, the revival of North America's exports being due largely to a growing dependence of western Europe on supplies of raw material and fuels from that source; and 3) in 1955, many industrial countries had relied more heavily on imports from the most economic sources of supply, and had therefore adopted more liberal import policies.

The fifth annual meeting of the International Commission for Northwest Adantic Fisheries was held in Ottawa, Canada from June 6 to 11, 1955 under the chairmanship of Dr. Stewart Bates (Canada). The Commission had before it research reports from Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, and a report on German fisheries in West Greenland waters.

The fourteenth plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee was held in Paris, France from June 20 through 25, 1955 under the chairmanship of Mr. Edouard J. Senn (France). Delegates from 30 member countries and observers from 18 countries and from 5 international organizations attended the meeting. Portugal announced its accession to the Committee effective July 1, 1955, bringing the total membership to 32 governments. The Committee heard reports from its officers, and a review of the world cotton situation and statements on the cotton situation in the various countries. Fifteen resolutions were adopted at the meeting, of which the first six related to the finances and organization of the Committee. In the other resolutions adopted the Commission inter alia: 1) provided for the continued publication of the Monthly Review and the Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, and authorized the Secretariat to publish a base book of cotton statistics as one issue of the Quarterly Statistical Bulletin; 2) stressed the importance of the statistics requested by it from member governments and asked members to review the availability of statistical information in their countries and to take steps to meet any deficiencies; 3) requested that, in addition to statistics already sent it by member governments on production, exports, imports, and prices of rayon and other synthetic fibers, there be added statistics on consumption, and in compiling such statistics, the Committee requested the Secretariat to make use of those already collected by other organizations;4) emphasized the importance of harsh short staple cotton to consuming countries, and requested that the attention of countries exporting this cotton be drawn to the desirability of increasing export availability and production wherever possible; 5) stressed the growing importance of laboratory testing of the fiber properties of commercial cottons, and requested the Secretariat to continue to maintain contacts with other organizations interested in fiber testing, while the standing committee was requested to consider what action, if any, the International Cotton Advisory Committee might appropriately take in this field; 6) requested the standing committee to examine the policies of governments in regard to the consumption of cotton and of competing fibers, and to submit a report on the matter to the fifteenth plenary meeting; and 7) paid tribute to Dr. Arthur W. Palmer, former General Secretary of the Committee and to Dr. Paolo N. Rogers, former vice- chairman of the Committee.

The seventh annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission was held in Moscow from July 18 to 24, 1955. All of the seventeen member governments were represented except Brazil, and observers were present from Argentina, Italy, the Association of Whaling Companies, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and the Food and Agriculture Organization. At the end of his three-year term as chairman, tribute was paid to Dr. Remington Kellogg (United States), who was succeeded by Dr. G. J. Leinesch (Netherlands) for the succeeding three years. The Commission elected Mr. R. G. R. Wall (United Kingdom) as vice-chairman to replace Dr. Leinesch. After the Commission had considered the reports of the Technical Committee and the Scientific Committee, it adopted amendments to the schedule, containing the whaling regulations annexed to the 1946 Convention. It was reported that the decisions had not been unanimous and that none of the amendments to the schedule would come into operation until they had been submitted to all member governments, which had the right to object within a period of 90 days. The Commission decided to request the United States to proceed with the amendment of the 1946 Convention by means of a protocol so that helicopters and other aircraft could be brought within the jurisdiction of the Convention.