S/PV.51 Security Council

This, l think, cxhausts Our exceptionally short agenda. Is therc an)' other bminess? 'J'he Acting Secretary-Gcneral wishes to make a statement. 9. Change of date for the consideration of applications for new membership 'The ACTING SECRETARV-GENERAL (Ml'. Sobolev): l should like ta draw the attention of the Security Council ta the situation which now exists in relation to the resolution of the Security Council approved on 17 May, 1 concerning the consideration of applications for new membcl'ship. In this resolution, it stated that the Sccul'ity Council resolved, ''that applications for membership which have been or mal' be received by the Secretary-General should be considered by the Security Council at a meeting or meetings ta be held during August 1946, for this specifie pm'pose; that applications for membership which have been receivecl bi' the· Secretary-Gcueral not later tlran 15 July shaH be rcfel'rl:cl to a committee composed of a reprcsentatlve of each of the members of the Council for examination and report to the SecurÏty Council not later than 1 August 191·6." . As you will remember, this resolution waS appro,:,ed by the Security Council at the time ~hen ~t was approving specific rules for the conslderatI?n of applications for new membership. :,-ccor~mg to these rules the Security Council lS obliged to make a report to the General As- , See JQurnal of the Security Council, No. 35, page 683. The facts now are that the General Assembly has been postponed until 23 September sa there is a good reason for the Security Council to reconsider its decision concerning the date of presenting the report by the committee to the Security Couneil, and to make it accord with the ruIes of procedure of the Security Council.

l trust the Council will see no objection to discussing this matter, aU the more as it seems to be of a somewhat urgent nature. l should like to enquire if there are members who wish to speak with regard to the statement just made by the Acting Secretar)'-General. Ml'. JOHNSON (United States of America): l have listened with great interest to the remarks of the Acting Secretary-General, and l am in entire accord with his suggestion for extending the dateS mentioned in the resolution of 17 May to conform with the new date of the Assembly and with the existing rules of procedure. l assume that it will be understood that any application received while the committee on membership is in session will be considered by the committee, and that it will be dealt with in the final report of the committee to the Council, provided the application is received in sufficient time to allow the committee to give it full consideration. If thi" point is generally accepted l would be agreeable to the eommittee being set up at any time in order to prepare for the consideration of applications within a period of approximately two weeks before the date on which the committee will render its report to the Couneil. The committce would have to start its substantive work on approximately 5 August but it could be organized before that date. The PRESIDENT: Are there any other members who wish to speak on this subject? Ml'. GROMYKO (Soviet Union) (translated tram Russian): 1 fully agTee with the proposaI made by the Acting Seeretary-General. Moreover, l wish to draw the attention of thc members of the Security Conneil to the fact that the committee has not yet proceedecl to the con- .sideration of the applications for admission. It seems to me that there are no longer any grounds for postponing consideration of these applications. The committee can and should proceed to consider them in the immediate future. Ml'. HASLUCK (Australia): Our delegation does not object to the proposaI that has been made, but there is one purely formaI side to the question we are now considering whieh l think we ought to keep in mind. glais): formuler: faite, actuellement nous modification As 1 understand it, what we are doing, in effect, is altering a resolution which was agreed Although the substance in this case is not one that raises any vital issue, l still think we should pause to give a certain amount of care over the actual way in which we are carrying out this act, and following on what the representative· of the Soviet Union saîd, l would suggest that it is sufficient for the present to give notice that the previous resolution of this Council will be amended by extending the time during which the committee is required ta report. There no need to delay the commencement of the work of this committee and no immediate urgency about amcnding the previous resolution. l think notice can be given at this meeting and a full amendment at a future one. The PRESIDI,NT: Do any of the l'epl'esentatives wish to speak further on this point? If Ilot, l was asking myself wbether it would not he sufl'icient, inasmuch as the date far the General Assembly has been postponed by a given number of clays, if we simply resort to modifying the dates mentioned in the resolution of 17 May in this sense; that ail the dates in the resolution would also be put back as many days as the interval between the day on which the Assembly was originally ta be convened and the day which it actually will be convened. l quite agree with the representative 01 Australia that as wc carried a resolution on the subject on 17 May, we should modify that resolution with due formality, and l think it would be taken care of in the very simple manner have outlined. l believe that would, at the same time, meet the point raised by bath the representatives of the United States of America and the Soviet Union, There would be fonnal objection to the committee organizing .a meeting if it simply holds its meeting within the time liplits which would autamatically follow the change of dates l have just melltioned. ]8 this suggestion agreeable to the Council? If sa, then the resolution,. in that sense, adopt<:d. The meeting rose ai 3.33 /J.m.