Abstract
THE Sydney Ball Lecture on “Administrative Problems of International Organization”, delivered by Mr. F. P. Walters, which has now been published as Barnett House Paper No. 24 (Oxford University Press. Is. net), is highly relevant to the tentative discussions on post–war international reconstruction which are now proceeding. On the grounds both of efficiency and economy, the advantages of a central organization at the service of all the special staffs required are obvious, and Mr. Waters postulates further that some such centre as Geneva and an annual meeting similar to the assembly of the League of Nations, as well as the secretariat, will be required before dealing with the special problems of administration concerned with the organization of an international centre and its relations with participating Governments. He stresses first the value of a separate department for League affairs, the need for which would have been more apparent in Great Britain but for the general efficiency of the Civil Service and the exceptional ability and energy of officials in the Foreign Office—a tribute from a League official which should be noted. He suggests further that the League budget should include an appropriation for ten or fifteen officials to be seconded each year from the Foreign Offices of different countries to spend six months or more in the secretariat, and he lays a great deal of emphasis on the advantage of cost of membership of committees, travelling expenses of delegations, general expenses of council meetings, the Assembly, and of conferences or special commissions being borne by the League budget as a whole and not by individual States. Similarly, he urges that assistance and advice given through the League or the International Labour Organisation should generally be regarded as a proper charge on the common budget.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Administration in International Affairs. Nature 148, 777–778 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148777b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148777b0