These reports are examined by a permanent mandates corn mission in the presence of an accredited representative of the mandatory concerned. The commission originally consisted of nine members of the following nationalities : Belgian, British, Dutch, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Swed ish. To these a Swiss and a German have since been added. The majority are nationals of non-mandatory States. They are selected "for personal merit and competence" as private individuals, and not as representatives of their respective nations. They are nominated by their Governments, but approved and appointed by the Council of the League, and may not hold any office under their Government. representative of the International Labour office attends the sessions, and takes part in any discussions relative to labour. This international composition negatives any suspicion of bias, and gives to the commission the aspect of an impartial tribunal of practical men, whose object it is to promote co-opera tion while fearlessly exposing any breach of the Covenant. Its functions are purely advisory to the council.
In addition to the annual review of the reports of the manda tories, the commission receives any petitions and memorials from inhabitants of the territories and others interested, and these, unless trivial or irrelevant, are forwarded to the mandatory con cerned for his comments before examination by the commission.
The proceedings are conducted in French and English, and are generally held in private to facilitate freedom of discussion. Full minutes are printed, which, together with the memoranda on special subjects and all other pertinent papers, can be obtained from the League publication department, or from its agents in London and other European capitals. A permanent secretariat, under a director, collects and circulates all documents of interest concerning mandates and conducts the routine business. The commission meets at least twice in the year at Geneva, and its procedure is governed by rules approved by the council.
The weak point in the system lies in the impossibility of in dependent verification of statements contained in the reports-- a difficulty inherent in the circumstances. For information not contained in the report, therefore, the commission must rely on those public bodies or individuals who interest themselves in the welfare of native races, and on such memorials and petitions as may be presented to it. In order to obtain more accurate in formation, the actual administrators now generally appear as the mandatory's representatives. The sole means at the disposal of the League for compelling the proper execution of the mandate is the force of public opinion.
The French mandates in west Africa—unlike the British man dates for portions of the same territories (Cameroons and Togo) —contain a clause to the eff,ct that "troops thus raised" (i.e., for purposes of local defence and police) "may in the event of general war be utilized to repel an attack, or for defence of the territory outside that subject to the mandate." It is difficult to reconcile this clause with the words of the Covenant. At the instance of the Mandates Commission the British Government was willing to go even further than the Covenant prescribes, and to agree to pledge itself not to enlist the natives of a mandated territory, even though they offered themselves for enlistment outside its fron tiers—thus limiting its sovereign rights in adjacent territories not under mandate. The French Government has declared its willing ness to accept the same restriction.
Spirituous Liquors shall be taken to mean (a) all distilled bever ages, (b) all fermented beverages to which distilled products have been added so as to contain over 20 degrees of pure alcohol by weight. Trade Spirits shall be taken to mean cheap spirits utilized as articles of trade or barter with the natives. Intoxicating bever ages means any beverage containing more than three degrees of pure alcohol by weight.
In the matter of equal commercial opportunity for all nations, the Covenant itself failed to fulfil the expectations raised by the pre-Armistice declarations of the Allies. No obligation in this regard is imposed in the C mandates, while in the B class it is restricted to States which are members of the League.