[[1]] The Council, at its 31st Session at Brussels, October 28th, 1924, "decided itself to undertake at its session in Rome (December, 1924) the work of preparing for the Conference on the Reduction of Armaments," instructing the Council Committee to continue and complete this work and report to the Council at its session in March, 1925.
The work of either the Council or its Committee was dependent to a large extent upon the receipt of suggestions from Members of the League which had been requested from them in a circular letter of the Secretary-General, October 11, 1924.
Various items regarding the Protocol of Geneva were on the Agenda of the Council for its December, 1924, meeting at Rome. Preparatory work regarding "the general program" under the second paragraph of Article 17 of the Protocol was the most important. Two other relevant items were (1) the reorganization of the Temporary Mixed Commission and the Permanent Advisory Commission into a single co-ordinated Commission; and (2) the date of the meeting of the Commission of Jurists (appointed at the Brussels session of the Council in October, 1924) to draft the amendments to the Covenant contemplated by the Protocol.
A Conservative Government came into power in Great Britain early in November, 1924, Mr. Austen Chamberlain becoming Foreign Secretary. At the request of the British Government, the agenda items for the December, 1924 meeting of the Council at Rome relating to the Protocol of Geneva were postponed until the March meeting. In the meantime, the British Government has suggested to the Dominions a meeting of the Imperial Conference for the purpose of adopting a policy of the British Commonwealth of Nations regarding the Protocol of Geneva. Whether such a meeting will be held, or whether the general British policy will be decided on as a result of correspondence, is not at this writing certain.
ANNEX E.
REPORT OF THE BRITISH DELEGATES RELATING TO THE PROTOCOL
FOR THE PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES.
London, November 1, 1924.
Sir,