CFM Files
United States Delegation Journal
USDel (PC) (Journal) 25
Colonel Naszkowski, the Chairman, stated that General Mossor had arrived to head the Polish group on the Military Commission and he invited the General to assume the Chair in his place.
Admiral Conolly (USA) called attention to what he regarded as certain inaccuracies in the minutes of the preceding meeting, particularly with regard to Item 4(b) which he thought was unduly restrictive in as much as it failed to mention the purpose of setting up subcommittees, and Item 4(d) which indicated that it was only the desire of the Commission to receive documents 24 hours in advance of each meeting, whereas an agreed decision had been reached on that point. General Slavin, the Soviet Delegate, maintained that Item 4(b) was correct as drafted and the Chairman had a portion of the unofficial minutes of the previous session read which he interpreted as indicating that the item had been appropriately drafted and that the US was introducing a new idea. Admiral Conolly said that such was not the case, that he had merely desired to clarify the conditions under which subcommittees would be constituted and that it would meet his purpose if his views were brought out in the minutes of the current session. Regarding Item 4(d) the Soviet Delegate agreed that a firm decision had been taken during the preceding meeting and a resolution by the Czech Delegate was rephrased by the Chairman to provide that all documents should be submitted 24 hours in advance and was adopted without opposition. Also adopted was a proposal of Mr. Alexander (UK) to the effect that explanatory memoranda of documents submitted to the Commission should be similarly delivered 24 hours in advance.
In discussing the proposal of the Secretary General regarding the manner in which representatives of ex-enemy states should be heard, a prolonged and involved discussion took place, originating with a suggestion by General Slavin that, although documents submitted by ex-enemy states might be considered by each Delegation individually, they should only be brought before the Commission in case of support by a member of the Commission. Mr. Alexander observed that this matter had already come up in the Political and Territorial Commission on Italy and he suggested that the procedure adopted there should be adopted in the Military Commission. He thought General Slavin’s [Page 285] suggestion might be unduly restrictive and said he did not wish to have all discussion ruled out except in cases where amendments were formulated. Admiral Conolly suggested that a compromise might be found incorporating the point of view of both the UK and USSR by agreeing that the views of non-members or ex-enemy states could be discussed in the Commission but not accepted as amendments unless proposed by a member of the Commission. Following further discussion in which both the UK and USSR Delegations submitted revised texts of their proposals, Admiral Conolly desisted from further attempt to seek a compromise and suggested the following text:
“The views of the representatives of the non-member or ex-enemy states may be discussed in this Commission but they shall not be voted upon as amendments unless moved as such by one of the members of this Commission.”
The Chairman then suggested a rephrasing of the British proposal to the effect that, if the memoranda of ex-enemy states contained suggestions bearing upon articles of the peace treaties, such could not be examined unless proposed as amendments by a member of the Commission. After further discussion regarding the manner in which a vote should be taken on these problems, in the course of which the Chairman first ruled that the vote should be first on the American proposal but later reversed himself to rule that voting should be in the order of the putting of the original motions, the amendment as rephrased by the Chairman was carried by a vote of 13 to 4 with 4 abstentions.61
In the course of the discussion General Theron (South Africa) asked for an assurance that the submission of further motions would not be ruled as out of order as the discussion proceeded on the ground that the deadline for the submission of motions had been passed. The Chairman observed that this did not fall within the scope of the question under discussion and he subsequently said that it would be taken up at the next session along with the United States proposal.
The meeting adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
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The Record of Decisions of this meeting describes the text adopted as a joint resolution of the U.S.S.R. and the U.K. It was as follows:
↩“If the memorandum presented by an ex-enemy State contains suggestions bearing upon the Articles of the Treaty, such suggestions cannot be studied by the Commission unless they are presented in the form of an amendment by one member of the Commission.” (CFM Files)