CAB129-37 — Page 840

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OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS

11. Mr. Lall (Government delegate, India) as Chairman of the Governing Body declared the Conference open. On the nomination of Mr. Helio Lobo (Government delegate, Brazil), Sir Guildhaume Myrddin-Evans was unani- mously elected President of the Conference. The Vice-Presidents elected were Mr. Pierre Dupong (Luxembourg), for the Government group, Mr. Pierre Waline (France), for the Employers' group and Mr. B. Ibanez Aguila (Chile), for the Workers' group.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

12. In his Presidential address Sir Guildhaume Myrddin-Evans spoke of the honour which had been conferred on his country and himself. He referred to a development in I.L.O. policy "which has ", he said, “in my view, the greatest possible significance: that is, the emergence of the I.L.O. into the operational field ". Sir Guildhaume also said:

"It is the duty of everyone of us in this session of the International Labour Conference to act not as jurists-which most of us are not-not even merely as legislators--though we are legislators for a few weeks --but mainly and all the time as statesmen: to look beyond the letter of what we are discussing, to test every proposal by the results that it will have on human progress and human happiness. It is my prayer that in this spirit our deliberations will be so guided that at the end we shall be able to look back in the confident assurance that we have advanced a step forward-perhaps a long step forward towards our objective of universal happiness, universal prosperity, universal peace and, above all, universal freedom.

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MEMBERSHIP OF THE ORGANISATION

13. The Conference was informed that since the previous Session in 1948 the Lebanon Republic and Israel, which are Members of the United Nations, had become Members of the International Labour Organisation by com- municating to the Director-General of the International Labour Office their formal acceptance of the obligations of the Constitution of the Organisation. This brought the number of the States Members of the Organisation to 61.

CREDENTIALS

14. The Credentials Committee established by the Conference was com- posed of Mr. William Rappard (Government delegate, Switzerland), as Chair- man, with Mr. Julio Pons (Uruguay) and Mr. Paul Finet (Belgium) as em- ployers' and workers' members respectively. The Committee had to consider objections concerning the appointment of the workers' delegates and workers' advisers of the Argentine Republic, Greece, India, the Republic of Ireland, Panama, the Union of South Africa and Venezuela.

The

15. In no case was the objection to the credentials maintained. Credentials Committee, in presenting its Third Report, which related to the credentials of the workers' delegates and advisers of the Argentine Republic, India, the Republic of Ireland, Panama and Venezuela, commented as follows:

"From the foregoing arguments which have resped of several the objections whichghe e been put forward in deposited, it is

clear that the Committee often found itself in a difficult position.

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For several years in fachge Credentials Committee has guphatically repeated that agreement with the most representative industrial organisa- tions, either of employers or of workers, in connection with the nomina- tion of delegates and Workers' and Employers' advisers, as provided for in Article 3, paragraph 5, of the Constitution, is closely bound up with a system of effective trade union freedom.

The Committee is therefore not convinced that this freedom is entirely guaranteed in all the countries which are under consideration; in any case, the information available to the Committee does not enable it, in the short time at its disposal, to come to a definite decision.

The Committee wishes to draw the special attention of the Conference to this difficult aspect of its task.

The Constitution, in fact, presupposes certain specific conditions, since it provides for absolute agreement, and this implies freedom. It is therefore for States Members to maintain these conditions, where they exist, and if necessary to establish them.

The Committee is carrying out its duty in examining the situation in each country in this connection, and it is the obvious duty of Govern- ment delegates to answer any questions which the Committee may feel it necessary to put to them."

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL (Item I of the Agenda)

16. The Director-General's Report contained a general study of world economic developments, a description of trends in social policy and a state- ment of the activities of the International Labour Organisation since the 31st Session. It also contained an important section on the progress of international labour legislation-in particular the problem of the ratification of International Labour Conventions-a subject to which a number of speakers referred in the course of the discussion on the Report, which occupied twelve plenary sessions. In all, the record number of ninety-five speakers took part in the discussion.

17. Mr. Isaacs attended the Conference and spoke during the discussion on the Director-General's Report. He described the position of Great Britain in relation to some of the problems to which the Director-General had drawn attention. He spoke of the progress made in ensuring that the necessary labour and inspection services are available to secure the effective implementation of the social legislation enacted by colonial Governments, in an effort to promote improvements in the material and social conditions of the people in British colonial territories. He welcomed the development of the work of the International Labour Organisation in the past year, particu- larly in the operational field, and also stressed the importance of studying the particular problems of different regions and different countries, a task which the Organisation was pursuing through the decentralisation of its activities. Mr. Isaacs concluded with a warning that the future of the Organisation might be seriously endangered by the introduction into the deliberations of the Conference of political speeches and political propa- ganda. He said:

"I have noticed in recent meetings of the Organisation (not confined to sessions of ghe1Conference) the beginnings of a tendency to import into this Organisation a practice which has grown up in other organisa- tions of using these debates for purposes of political propaganda and,

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