793.94/10118: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Bucknell) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 17—11:37 a.m.]
307. The Consulate has received copies of an extract from the minutes of the private session of the Council yesterday afternoon [Page 23] covering the discussions on the subject of referring the Sino-Japanese dispute to the Advisory Committee (Consulate’s 304, September 16, 10 p.m.). The document is transmitted under cover of an unsigned mimeographed sheet reading as follows:
“In conformity with the decision taken by the Council at its private meeting on September 16, 1937, the Secretary General has the honor to communicate herewith to the Advisory Committee set up by the special Assembly convened in virtue of article 15 of the Covenant at the request of the Chinese Government an extract from the minutes of the said meeting.”
This is the only communication thus far received relating to the reference of the matter to the Advisory Committee and appears to be merely of an informatory nature especially since it was forwarded in exactly the same manner as was Chinese note described in the Legation’s 79, August 31, 11 a.m.
The minutes indicate that the President in his statement to the Council suggesting [suggested?] that the latter “request the Secretary General to take necessary steps so that the Advisory Committee may meet as soon as possible and proceed to examine the situation to which attention has been directed”.
In making this proposal the President expressly stated that the Committee’s terms of reference were derived from article 3, paragraph 3 of the Covenant which he quoted, citing at the same time the pertinent portion of the Assembly’s resolution of February 24, 1933. This may be of some significance, at least from a technical point of view, in that it seems to imply a recognition that the Assembly has completed its action under article 15 and will now continue under a more elastic procedure.