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'League of Nations, Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, Geneva, 17th June 1925' [‎55r] (116/138)

The record is made up of 1 volume (65 folios). It was created in 1925. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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21
representatives of the smaller States, who deprecated the incurment of
■expenditure on a new International Office performing work which could be
undertaken for a cithe of the cost by the existing organisation of the League.
60. In the course of discussion in the Customs Committee it was
observed that the statistical information desired in regard to the traffic in
arms would lose much of its value if its publication were delayed, and that
much valuable time would be lost in the process of its supply to and collation
by a Central Office, wherever and however established. An opening was
afforded by this consideration for a reconciliation of the American standpoint
with that of other nations by the adoption of the expedient of dispensing
with a Central Office and relying on each nation to prepare and publish
(and by private arrangement, if necessary, exchange) the requisite statistics
drawn up in the prescubed form. It is understood, however, and was made
plain in the course of the last plenary session, that the Secretariat of the
League will undertake, unasked and unofficially (as it already has done in
legard to othei matters of international interest), the task of co-ordinating
and re-publishing in collated form the information published independently
by each High Contracting Party in respect of its trade (export or import, or
both) in arms, ammunition, and implements of war. Thus, by the goodwill
of the League, the Convention has been saved from any taint, offensive to
American susceptibilities, of League administration; and yet the important
duty of centralising information will not be neglected.
VIII.—Control of the Traffic in Transit.
61. The Temporary Mixed Commission inserted in their draft an Article-
no parallel to which appears in the St. Germain Convention—providing for
the prohibition by High Contracting Parties of the transit through their
territories of consignments of arms, &c., suspected of being conveyed not in
•accordance with the rules laid down. The Article (No. 5) went rather
further than was desired by the British representatives on that Commission,
who wished merely to assert in the Convention the right of a High Contracting
Party to prohibit the transit of a suspect consignment. The question was
very fully considered in the interdepartmental discussion preparatory for the
recent Conference, and, as a result, a new Article 0 was evolved representing
a compromise between the two main points of view, viz., that expressed by
the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and Colonial Office in particular, that it was highly desirable
that all nations should pledge themselves by means of an international
Convention to turn to practical use information (of which there is an ample
amount) of cargoes exported in an illicit fashion to objectionable destinations,
and, on the other hand, that held by the Board of Trade and Customs, that,
firstly, the assertion and exercise of this right would give other nations an
opportunity for vexatious retaliation on the British carrying trade by sea
(which is still the largest and an' object of jealousy), and secondly that
where, as in the United Kingdom, there is a vast transit traffic, an
undertaking to prohibit the transit of illicit cargoes was impracticable, and
that to undertake what one cannot carry out is to ask for trouble.
62. In the General Committee the various criticisms that had been made
in the Temporary Mixed Commission and in Whitehall of Article 5 of the
Temporary Mixed Commission's draft were repeated by one or more delegates.
The Swiss delegate drew attention to the extent of the obligations that
* viz.; "Notwithstanding the provisions of any international conventions dealing with transit,
the High Contracting Parties, when they have good reason to believe that any consignment of
arms, ammunition or implements of war in trat sit through their territory is destined for some
other territory under their sovereignty, jurisdiction or tutelage or for any of the maritime or
territorial zones specified in Article 9 and does not conform to the provisions of the present
Oonvention, reserve the right to investigate the circumstances and if necessary to take the
following steps :—
" Any vessel, vehicle, or other means of transport in which the consignment is suspected to
he may be detained for examination. If any consignment is discovered which does not conform
to the provisions of the present Convention, it will be treated as prohibited goods and dealt
with in accordance with the laws of the territory in which the vessel, vehicle, or other means
of transport was detained. If it should be found that there was no breach of the present
Convention the consignment shall be released forthwith and handed over to its owner or his
sigent.
" Any steps taken under this Article shall be car.-ied out with all reasonable speed.''
Objections.

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Content

The volume contains the following two documents: League of Nations, Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War: Convention, Declaration regarding the Territory of Ifni, Protocol on Chemical and Bacteriological Warfare, Protocol of Signature, Final Act (CCIA 91 (2)) and International Arms Traffic Conference, Geneva, May-June 1925, Report by the Delegates for India .

The delegates for India named in the second of these documents are Major-General Sir Percy Zachariah Cox and Colonel W E Wilson-Johnston.

The first of these documents is in both French and English.

Extent and format
1 volume (65 folios)
Arrangement

There are tables of contents towards the front of the first document, on folio 5v; and towards the front of the second, on folio 45v.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the front cover and terminates at 66 on the back cover. These numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio. Foliation anomalies: ff. 13, 13A.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'League of Nations, Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, Geneva, 17th June 1925' [‎55r] (116/138), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/748, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100024090486.0x000075> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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