CAB129-33 — Page 448

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Delegation while the United Kingdom Delegation put forward the proposal which was adopted that a series of annual awards for the best achievement during the year in music, art, drama, education and the humanities be awarded by UNESCO. Such awards would be similar in nature to the Nobel prizes in Sweden or the Pulitzer Prize in the United States.

49. Letters.--Apart from authority to continue an International Pool of Literature, the main activities of this section will be concerned with transla- tions. Work on the Translations of Great Books will be continued on the plan adopted jointly by UNESCO and the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. In this connection the Director-General was also authorised to assist the resumption of the Index Translationum.

50. Museums.—We wish to refer here only to the modest but effective work in the field of museums and to the continued production in 1949 of the publication Museum."

51. Libraries and Books.-In this section also we have little comment to make. The Programme Commission did not study the detailed proposals which it contained and most delegations including that of the United Kingdom felt able to adopt the recommendations for continuance of the work which in the past has been effective and efficiently controlled. Resolutions will be found on public libraries, on bibliographical work and select national bibliographies, on book exchanges and on the reproduction and exchange of periodical publications.

52. At the instance of the United Kingdom Delegation a grant-in-aid was authorised to the ex-German libraries in Italy. It has been agreed that the cost of maintaining these libraries shall in future be met from the sale of German assets in Italy, but until these libraries are placed upon a proper footing to enable them to resume the valuable service they previously rendered to international scholarship, we believe that a grant of funds was justified to prevent any reduction in the services now provided by them.

CHAPTER VII.--COMMUNICATION

53. The emphasis which in previous Conferences many delegations, notably those of the United Kingdom and of the United States have consistently placed upon the problem of mass communication is reflected in the prominent place it still occupies in UNESCO's programme. As well as dealing with the fields of radio, film and press, an important first section is devoted to the Exchange of Persons.

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54. Exchange of Persons.-The United Kingdom Delegation regarded the international movement of persons, whether by exchange or through fellow- ships, as an activity of the highest priority. For this reason it supported the recommendations to continue the collection and distribution of information about the available. opportunities for fellowships and scholarships in all Mem- ber States. We consider UNESCO's first handbook, now published and called Study Abroad," an invaluable help to universities, scholars and students in every country of the world. The stimulation of further fellowships and their administration by UNESCO was authorised and a small conference on the administration of these fellowships will be called in 1949. We were particularly anxious to see this conference held as we felt a growing need to ensure broadly comparable treatment of fellowships through the very wide programmes now being operated by the United Nations and most of the Special Bed Agepgies£ 488