The International Labour Office
The 'annual General Conference of the International Labour Organization opened on Thursday, May 30th. It was preceded in accordance with custom by a session of the Governing Body (the forty-fifth). Those of our readers who remember the character sketch of Sir Eric Drummond, which was contributed to the Spectator at the end of last year, will wel- come the striking portrait of his opposite number, the Director of the International Labour Office, which we print to-day. It is felt by many of us that there is an inadequate apprecia- tion in this country of the excellent work which is being done by the Office for international social progress. A timely example of that work is the Report on Unemployment—Sonic International Aspects, which we review elsewhere. The Spectator may, therefore, perform a useful service in giving prominence either on our League of Nations page or in our editorial columns to the activities of the I.L.O. We shall, of course, publish an account of the present Conference, probably at the end of the month. The agenda is as follows : (1) Discussion on the report of the Director. A full report of Monsieur Albert Thomas's visit to the Far East was pre- sented at the last meeting of the Governing Body. The present survey deals with the actual year's work of the Office, but almost any subject of international industrial importance may be raised during the debate.
(2) Discussion on the report on the world unemployment position, to which we have already referred.
(3) First general discussion on Forced Labour, also on hours of work of salaried employees.
(4) A final deliberation on Accident Prevention, in parti- cular the question of the protection against accidents of workers engaged in loading and unloading ships.
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