The United Nations
After over three months of work, the executive committee of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations has now approved a final report containing recommendations and proposals to be pre- sented to the Preparatory Commission when it meets in London at the end of November. The three months have not been wasted, and the executive committee is to be congratulated on the speed with which it has completed its labours. The report is a massive document of two hundred and fifty pages, and includes detailed recommendations on the establishment of all the main organs through which the United Nations will work ; the establishment of a trustee- ship system for undeveloped territories ; the reconstruction of an International Court of Justice ; the organisation of the United Nations Secretariat ; the transfer to the United Nations of the non-political functions of the League of Nations ; and the location and accommoda- tion of the Permanent Headquarters of the United Nations. As is well known, the headquarters will be situated in the United States, and probably, because of its magnificent facilities, in San Francisco ; as is well known also, this choice does not accord with the wishes of the British Government, which believes that the location of the headquarters in the United States will militate against the proper consideration of European problems. The publication of the report will be followed, at the end of November, by the meeting of the Preparatory Commission, and in the first week of January by the first session of the General Assembly ; it is believed that the first half of the session should be devoted to organisational problems and the second, some months later, to major political issues. It may be doubted whether the pressure of events will permit so neat a division of labour ; the United Nations may well find itself faced with crucial problems before it is half-born.
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