L 14Tu 5 OF HATIONS
JUiUlUviA-1-1.iommunicateel ~----- to the Council 0.14 11.8. 1926a I and. Hembors of the League Genova Jan 12th 1926
O REIT A RT
ÎIIE P3RI0D MARCH - 33130J3LIB13H 1925.
In forwarding this report, which is intended to serve as a reference document, to th e Council and Members of the League, the Secretary-General has the honour to draw attention to the general review of Danzig questions for the year September 1924 -
August 1925, which is contained in the Report and in the Supple mentary Report to the S ixth Assembly on the work of the O ouncil=
I » ESTIONS CON SI DU 111 D BY TH3 COUNCIL AT ITS THIRTY-FOURTH (June 1925), THIRTY-FIFTH (August-S ept ember 1925) and THIRTY-
SE\r3NTH (December 1925) SSSSIOIIS. I.Î. Quinones de Leon, representative of Spain, acted as
Rapporteur for Danzig Questions 4 th the .exception of those con cerning the financial situation of the Free Oity on which
M* Hymans .representativa of Belgium, reported» The reports and the Minutes of the discussions as well as the resolutions adopted ty the Council on each question, -'ill be found in the Official
Journal t,
1» Procedure in the oase of différences oe tv/e on the Free Pity
jnd Pol and 0 u '
On June 11th 1925 the Council, a fte r consi dering certain
3uo?estions nade by the P olish and the Danzig Government
295.1925.1 and 0. o4l.1925.1) , approved the rules of procedure,
'"M For the precoding report see C » 227 el:«B to be followed in the Gb.se of differences between Danzig and Poland, which wore submitted by the Rapporteur in virtue of the Counoil res lution of March 13th 1925. According to the new rules, the High Commissicner, before dealing ,vith a dispute should satisfy himself that the dispute could not be settled by direct negotiations between the parties through the mediation of the High Conmi ssioner. Moreover the High Commissioner may have recourse, through the Secretary-General, to the technical services of the League in order to obtain a technical advisory opinion. In the same way he nay through the Secretary-General and the Rapporteur obtain a legal opinioné The High Commissioner «fill communi cate the advisory opinion to the p a rtio s, and will consider whether it is possible to establish an agree ment on t he basis at this opinion such as to render it unnecessary for him to take any decision on the subject. The new rules also fix the period wi thin which the pleadings and counter pleadings of the two parties must be submitted to the High Commissioner as well as the period w ithin which an appeal against the decision of the High Commissioner must be made to the Council. 2. Procedure to be fo il>wod in cases of petitions addressed to the League by Danzig nationals.x On June loth 1925 the Council drafted a letter, which the Secretary-3-eneral subsequently addressed to the High Commissioner, on this question. The Council consider'd that as the High Commissioner was the representative of the League in Danzig, nationals of t ho Free City could address petitions to him, the contents of which ha could use as information on the situation in Danzig, As the constitution of the Free City was placed ^ Ïï73237“ 15'2ïï.l * ' under the guarantee of the League i t seemed onl;*" not u al -ro :, the high Connaissio. .er, if he should learn by means of -•etitions or otherwise, that there was a danger of the Constitution being infringed, to bring the matter to the notice of the Council. 3. Polish Postal Service in Danzig. On June 11th 1925 the Council considered the reply of the Permanent Court of International Justice (C.£7G.K. 101.1925.V) which it had been requested to give to certain questions sub mitted to it by the Council in virtue of resolution of ; arch 13th,1925, The Council adopted the opinion of the Court and decided that the boundaries of the Port of Danzig should be traced for the purposes of the Polish postal service, having regard to the considerations submitted by the Court, Por this pair pose the Council invited the Chairman of the Advisory aid Technical Committee fo r Comm am ications and Pransit to appoint, in agreement with the Rapporteur, four experts, including one jurist, who would be ashed, to submit/:o the Council proposals regarding the delimitation of the Port. The Committee of Experts was composed of the following members : I I . I OS TIE (Herabex* of the Legal Sub-Committee of the transit Committee ) ; il. IPCPT-'-RRCYOS (Technical Adviser to the Brazilian delegation in Geneva ) ; Colonel de RI Y. ' I PR (former -^resident of the Danzig Harbour Board) and I . SC1IRPUDPR (Head of tlie Post Office of Amsterdam). On September ISth 1925 the Council considered the opinion °i the Conm.ittee of Experts which had been for..arded tt) it by l*ie -igh Commissioner with his observations in document C.430. 19 ^ ^ T-U as well as the observations made by the Danzig Senate ^•502.1925.1,) and by the Polish Government (C.495.1925*I ) 4 . The Council adopted the boundary line dravn by the Committee and also examined certain suggestions made in the E xports1 "deport v.lth regard to the revision of the line and to certain agreements to be concluded between Danzig and the polish Government. The following documents relating to the question w ere submitted to the Council since the last general report on Danzig questions: Opinion of the Court G .219/It* 75«, 1925.V* C.270.M.101.1925.V» Danzig notes: C.331*1925.I. C.562.1925.1. C0502*1925*1* , C.5 4 4 .1 9 2 5 .0»777.M. 275,1925.Id, - Polish notes; C.343. 925.1. , Cc374„ 1925.I»^ C»495.1935.1, - Committee of Experts C.430.1925. I , and- C.656.M.241.19S5.I. 4. _PolisIi I'.Iunitions Depot in the Danzi g harbour. (a) D elim itation of tlie ' ’olish Munitions Depot on the Vfesterplatte e On June 11th, 1925 the Council postponed the con sideration of a repuest from the President of the Danzig Harbour Board submitted to it by the High Commissioner (C.527,1925.I) concerning the application of the Council1s resolution of March 14th, 19 24, by which the V.res-terplatte peninsula had been placed at the disposal of the Polish Government fo r the purposes of unloading and despatching to Poland of war material in transit „ rn On September 19th, 1925 the Council decided that the Harbour Board should under talc e the delimitation of the Pester pi at te and that its decision should be final , The question of the risk of accidents having been raised -5 - b/ the Polish Government, the Council decided that the Harbour Bo., rd before taking a ieoision Eh ou 1 d obtain the advice of one or two experts chosen in agreement with the •eoretary 'jod ral. The Council also decided that the v«estcrpl"' -te should hr- handed over to Poland by the end of October 1925. - Count Gravina (Italian) was sppointed to give advice to the Hjrbour Board .and the .Vesterplstte -i area, ae delimiter by the decision of the President of the H:rbour Board was transferred to thePolish authorities on October 51st, 1925. The following documents were submitted to the Council on the subject: C.327.1925.1., C.387.1925.1., C.':,47.1925.1 . , . 0.460.192 5 .1. , . C. 507 .1925 .1. , C. 508 .192 5.1. , and C. 525.1925.1. , /C.7Ç6 .11.256.1925.J . (b) L'stabliehment of a gu:.rd detachment for a Polish munition depot on the ,/e sterplatte . In accordance with the agreement between Dansig an 3 Poland of June2let 1921 the Polish Government had requested the High Commi^tioner to give Lie confient to the proposed arrangement for the permanent establishment of a Polish Guard Detachment on the Westerplatte for the Polisi Munition Depot. The High Commissioner, before givinp his consent requested the Council in September 1925 to consider the Question in the 1 irht of Article 5 of the Danzig Constitution, according to which the Pree City cannot, without the previous consent of the league, serve as a military or naval "base. The Council, who on September 28th 1925 had adjourned the consideration of the question decided on / m m 6-* December 9 th 19.-5, ax't ci having settled certain points "In volved, that the establishment of the Guard in The follovihg Counoil documents relate to this question: C. 551,192511, , d*580«1925.1. , C s ’/15«1925*I * t C . 742.1925,1* ' :'(z) 5. Kçdi r a t ion of Hi*« I..acDnnne 111 s torm of office» Appointrnent of -Or. vi _ Kamel as High Commissioner. At the meeting of December 12th,. 1925, the P r é s i d â t ofx tlie Council convoyed to hr. HacDonnell the thanhs of the' Council f .i the services which he had rendered to the League curing his three yearsT term of oflice. On the seme date Jr. van hamel (Dutch), Director o f the Legal Section of 'the League Secretariat, vas appointed, High Commissioner ox the League in Danzig for three years ag tfroâ February 22nd, 1926 e , (For other questions concerning the post of the High CoLimissionei see I I , 3, belov). II, O'ÆÏZl i.FJ£rJIQnS, !♦ Participati on of Lanaig in international treaties and c onvontions. a) The Free City has adhered to the Barcelona Transit Convention ox 1920. b) The hivh Commissioner has infomed the Secretary- Ceneral that there appeared to be no ground for vetoing under Article 6 of the Danzi -Polish Treaty of ITovember 9tli .1920 the adhesion of Danai, t. the commercial treaties vhicii have buen concluded between Poland and Iceland (August £4th,19H4), °land and £>\.-eden (December 2nd, 19,A) and Poland and Greece -<-il 17th, 1925). 2. Jan z .i g- P o 1 i s h Ag y e oia en t s The High Commissioner has forward 3d to the Secrétariat copies of the following Dauzig-Polish agreements a) Agreements of June 29 th 1925, concerning the visit of foreign, worships to Dans ig. ( Official Journal, August 1925, page 1197 ) as x.ell as a further agreement on the same matter (Official Journal, August 1985, page 1197/8). b ) Agreement dated August 12th, 1925, together with a final Protocol of the same date and a Protocol of July 20th 1925, concerning the ap p licatio n of export duties to the products of Danzig's industry and agriculture. This Agreement was concluded in pursuance of paragraph b ) of the high Commissioner's decision of November 6fch 1924 ( C. 724. 1924, I ) and of the Council's resolution of March 13th 1925, concerning export duties. a ) Protocol dated July 25tn 1925, concerning the importation into the Pree City of goods of German origin, whose import into Poland is prohibited- 3, The High Commissioner's Post. a) High Commissioner's s ta ff, - In June 1925, cr ' Major B ertie, the Secretary of the High Commission/resigned and was replaced by Mr, Hub bard. b ) C o n trib u tio n s.- The Danzig Government and the Polish Government have, sinco March 1925, paid to the fin an cial administration of the League a total of 123,000 gold francs, the sum required to meet the advance made by the League fo r the upkeep of the High Commissioner's post for the first, second and third quarters of 1925« - 8 - o) Audits,- As provided for b the Council on November 17th 1. 9G, ■q accounts of the High G o m is si on o rT s post from Hay 1st 1924 to 3C*i:h 1925 have been uuditei by the Financial Administration of e letigue. A copy of the report of the auditor has boon ■nrunieated to the Polish Government and the Danzig Government for 1 eir inf orna tio n 5 as well ns to the High Coirirlssionor t. A summary of [e receipts and expenditure of this period is given below. RECEIPTS £ d, va ne es f r om League: 7,315, 0. 0, ri interest ana Àlisoollaneo^s Pisoeipts 2 . 13, 3.1 Total 7,3X7 a 13, i i EXPEND1!TBB.E tlarjes and '/ageo : :.gh 0 02Œ1 3 sioner Ts Salary (80,000 gold francs pel annum) ...... 3,393. 2 A laries of S taff 1,16 3 0 0 kb of living Allowances 1 • the Staff, . . , 336 0 0 rployoes (hired locally)., 404 19 V her expenses: tolling expenses « fl • p fl 538 1 8 tor oar " c • « * 3 89 12 6 ght and f u e l, etc » <■ . • e • » 1 CB 1 0 5 % ) i o 158 4 7 a = c e 1 9 1 0 r,JMraft on Hay 1st 1924 ...... 375 15 8 lance - Cash in hrnd and at Bank...... • « « . 751 17 11 Total 7317 - 13 - 11 ^•1 High Commissioner1 s House.- Cn Doc ember 12th 1925, the Pencil requested the High Commissioner to submit a report nn the ration of hi 3 residence, a question which had been raised by the Commissioner during the Counoil session in December 1924, - 9 - 4. Financial situation of the Free City. (a) Danzig MunieapaX Lo.^n. On June 11th 1925, the Oounoil took note of the fnot that the Danzig Municipal Loan, to which it had given its consent on March 13th 1925, had been issued in April 1925. It approved certain proposals made by the Financial Com mittee with regard to the Council1 s arbitration duties pro vided for in the General Bond between the municipality, the financial institutions in charge of the service of the loan and the trustees. (b) The Free City's external financial obligations to the Conference of Ambassadors. On the same date the Council observed that from ths obligations of the Free City to the Conference of Ambassadors, two oould probably be discharged shortly, and took note of the procedure by which Danzig intended to make proposals for the discharge of i t s th ird debt to the Conference of Ambassadors» 5. Various customs questions. In August 1925 the Danzig and the Polish Governments requested, through the High Commissioner, the Secretary-General of the League to appoint an expert to give an advisory opinion on certain customs questions on which a difference of opinion^ \ had existed for some time between the two parties. The Secretary-General has requested M.Vallotton (Swiss) to give an advisory opinion. 6. Miscellaneous Questions. The budgets of the Free City and of the Danzig munici pality for 1925/26 have been received in the Secretariat, and a summary will be published in the Official Journal.