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Home , March 1925, October 1924

\Communicated to the Council C. 226. M. 82. 1925, 1. ufldthe Members of e eague.] Extract from the Official Journal .

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Geneva, March 31st, 1925.

SAAR BASIN

GENERAL r e p o r t b y t h e s e c r e t a r y - g e n e r a l f o r t h e p e r io d - \

The Secretary-General has the honour to forward, for the information of the Council and the Members of the League, a general report for the period October 1st, 1924 - March 31st, 1925, on questions concerning the Saar Basin. This report should be considered mainly as a reference document.

I. Qu e st io n s c o n s i d e r e d b y t h e C o u n c i l a t i t s T h i r t y - s e c o n d ( D e c e m b e r 1924)

a n d T h i r t y - t h i r d (M a r c h 1925) S e s s i o n s .

M. Salandra, representative of Italy, acted as Rapporteur during the thirty-second, andM. Scialoja, representative of Italy, during the thirty-third Session. Their reports and the discussions and decisions of the Council will be found in the Official Journal of the League containing the Minutes of these Sessions.

1. Public Education in the Saar1.

Certain documents submitted by the German Government (document C. 750. M. 259. 1924. I, or Annex 718c? to the Official Journal for 1924) and by the Governing Commission (document C. 749. 1924. I, or Annex 718e), in addition to those already mentioned in the pre­ ceding general report (Official Journal, , pages 1703-1706), were examined by the Council at its meeting of December 11th, 1924. The Council, after having heard the report by the Italian representative, M. Salandra, approved the following conclusions of his report : “ The Council will no doubt agree with me that the matter before us is essentially a question of interpretation of certain provisions in the Annex to the regarding the Saar Territory. Apart from the legal points of view set forth in the docu­ ments which I have just summarised, the French representative has recently transmitted to me the legal opinion of an English jurist, Mr. Mitchell Innes (document C. 804. 1924. I, or Annex 718/), and the Swedish representative a memorandum based on the opinion of a Swedish jurist (document C. 788. 1924. I, or Annex 718(7). These two documents are before you, and you will probably be of opinion that the Secretary-General should communicate them to the Governing Commission of the Saar Territory for any action that might be necessary. “ Furthermore, the very detailed reports that the Governing Commission has sent us show that it is aware not only of the legal aspect of the problem of public education m the Saar but also of its political and moral aspects, and in particular of the importance which public opinion in the Territory attached to the problem. These circumstances give to the question of the French schools a wider bearing than would result from a mere comparison between the inconsiderable number of pupils who frequent these schools and those who frequent the ordinary schools of the Territory. Per­ sonally, I rely on the wisdom of the Governing Commission, and I am fully confident that it will find the means of allaying the anxiety w^hich this matter seems to have aroused m certain sections of the Saar population. ” . .The Council decided to forward a copy of this report to the German Government for lts information.

* For the preceding report, see document C. 581. M. 198.1924. I, or Official Journal, November 1924, pages 1703-1706. Coum-ifLthe re(Iuest of the German Government, a collection of the documents on the question was circulated to the 11 (document C. 831. 1924. I).

S,d' N- 600 (F) +675 (A). 4/25. Imp. d’Ambilly. — 2 —

The Governing Commission, on February 18th, 1925, informed the Secretary-Gen that, in view of this resolution of the Council, it has published a declaration in the OffJ i Journal of the Saar concerning the attendance of the Saar children a t the French min schools (document C. 86. 1925. I). ln§

2. Appointment of the Five Members and the Chairman of the Governing Commission (document C. 47. M. 26. 1925. I).

On March 13th, 1925, the Council reappointed the five members, as well as the Chairman of the Commission for a further period of one year from April 1st, 1925 (document C. 187 1925. I). The Commission is composed as follows :

M. K o s s m a n n (Saar) ; M. L a m b e r t (Belgian) ; M. R a u l t (French member and Chairman) ; Mr. S t e p h e n s (Canadian) ; M. V e z e n s k y (Czechoslovak). A note from the Swedish Government (document C. 114. M. 54. 1925. I) suggesting that in electing the Chairman of the Commission, the Council should bear in mind the. advantages in having the post of Chairman held by all the members of the Commission in turn is examined in the report of the Italian representative to the Council.

3. French Troops and Local Gendarmerie1.

On March 14th, 1925, the Council adopted the following resolution : “ The Council of the : “ After having heard the Italian representative’s report (document C. 192. 1925.1), the observations of the representative of Great Britain, and the explanations of the Chairman of the Governing Commission : “ (1) Approves the Governing Commission’s proposal to increase the local gendarmerie by 250 men during the financial year 1925-1926 (document C. 84. M, 42. 1925. I); “ (2) Requests the Governing Commission to submit to it for consideration a report on the manner in which it would be possible, in the absence of troops, to carry into effect sub-paragraph 3 of paragraph 30 of the Saar Annex to the Treaty of Versailles, which lays down that it will be the duty of the Governing Commission to provide in all cases for the protection of persons and property in the S aar Basin. In preparing its report, the Governing Commission should take into account the possibility of obtaining the assistance of troops stationed outside the Saar Territory ; “ (3) Requests the Secretary-General to communicate a copy of this resolution to the German Government, in reply to its note of February 19tli, 1925 (document C. 92. M. 46. 1925. I). ”

II. O t h e r Q u e s t i o n s .

1. Periodical Reports from the Governing Commission.

On May 15th, 1920, the Council approved an arrangement according to which th e Govern­ ing Commission should furnish to the League full information on political, economic, financial, social and other matters regarding the Saar Basin and of interest to the League of Nations, as well as all official publications of the Governing Commission. In conformity with this arrangement, the Governing Commission has forwarded its Nineteenth Periodical R eport (see document C. 620. M. 219. 1924. I, or Official Journal, ), and its T w e n tie th Perio­ dical Report (see document C. 39. M. 22.1925.1, or Official Journal, March 1925), d e a l i n g wit ’ the period July 1st - September 30th, 1924, and October 1st - December 31st, 1924, respectively

2. Preliminary Measures in View of the Plebiscite.

In conformity with the recommendations made by the Provisional Records Commissi°nel in his report of October 31st, 1923 (Official Journal, , Part II, pages 10J- /j concerning the recording of changes in the bituation of the documents preserved in vie the plebiscite as shown in the original returns drawn up by the Commissioner, the local authorities have sent in periodical reports for the third and fourth quarters of

1 For the Governing Commission’s letter concerning the Saarlouis repair park for small arms, see d°cu C. 681. M. 242. 1924. I. — 3 —

, Governing Commission has sent in its periodical reports for the period since the t blishment of the original returns up to December 31st, 1924. The authorities have also «lined to send in special notification of each change in the situation as provided for in Ï same recommendations.

3. Petitions from Inhabitants of the Territory.

Petitions to the League of Nations on the following subjects from organisations or indivi­ d u a l s in th e Territory have been forwarded by the Governing Commission, together with such observations as it has considered desirable to make in each case : (1) Petition from the “ Property Owners and Landowners Association of the Saar ” concerning the system of housing control (document C. 798 (1). M. 267. 1924. I). (2) Petition from the “ Union for the Protection of the Saar Economic Interests ” concerning the special situation of the Saar during the Franco-German commercial negotiations (document C. 799. M. 268. 1924. I). (3) Petition entitled “ Abuses in the Administration of the Territory of the Saar ” from representatives of certain political parties on the Saar Advisory Council (document C. 50. M. 27. 1925. I). (4) Petition from the “ Voelklingen Association of Victims of Accidents ” concerning the system of accident insurance in the Saar (document C. 79. M. 40. 1925. I). (5) Petition entitled “ Intolerable Position created in the Saar Territory b)r the Customs Policy ” from the representatives of certain political parties on the Saar "Advisory Council (document C. 116. M. 56. 1925. I). (6) Petition entitled “ The Proposed Deterioration of the Currency in the Saar ” from the representatives of certain political parties on the Saar Advisory Council (docu­ ment C. 128. M. 57. 1925. I). (7) A memorandum from the representatives of certain groups in the Saar Advisory Council concerning the appointment of the members and the Chairman of the Governing Commission (document C. 173 (1). M. 59. 1925. I).

(8) Petition from M. S e e b o t h concerning hisdismissal from the services of the Governing Commission (document C. 721. 1924. I). (9) Petition from M. P a l z concerning the situation of his son, who enlisted in the French Foreign Legion (document C. 731. 1924. I).

4. International Agreements.

Agreements between the Governing Commission and Germany concerning the following questions have been registered with the Secretariat : (1) Application to the Saar of the system of settling pre-war debts and claims by clearing-office procedure (see Treaty Series No. 765). (2) Application of the Convention of Berne for the Transport of Goods by Rail to the traffic between Germany and the Saar (see Treaty Series No. 837).

5. Special Reports communicated by the Governing Commission.

. .^be following reports and data on the Saar have been received from the Governing Com­ mission and are kept in the archives of the Secretariat : (1) A volume containing the Minutes of the meeting's of the Governing Commission for 1923. (2) Statistical data concerning public health conditions in the Saar for publication in the Monthly Epidemiological Reports of the Health Organisation of the League.