882.01 Foreign Control/74: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Dawes) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 27—3:55 p.m.]
55. From Reber: Liberian committee met this morning at 11 under chairmanship of Lord Cecil, who welcomed the representative of the United States in the name of the committee and asked the Liberian and American members if they had any observations to make.
Sottile stated he welcomed what he called a departure from the usual American procedure and hoped the United States would consider for the purpose of the meeting that it was a member of the League. He wished to stress the importance his Government laid upon the question of the nationality of advisers to be chosen in reply to Liberia’s request and attempted to delay discussions until the arrival of Grimes tomorrow when the full Liberian plan of reform could be presented.
In my reply I thanked the chairman and committee for their welcome and added that in its answer to the invitation of the League the United States had expressed its readiness to cooperate with this international committee.
Cecil stated he considered that the main purpose of this meeting was to consider the nomination of experts who could proceed to Liberia in order to make a detailed study of the reforms necessary and for this reason he felt that the question of the nationality of these experts was not involved as they should be selected by the committee solely on the basis of their qualifications.
As regards the question of experts Sottile stated his Government had asked the League for advisers in specified fields and again attempted to delay a discussion of this point. The Polish representative said he believed it was important before the experts should be chosen that their full instructions be prepared by the committee, and the [Page 676] matter was then brought up for decision. In agreeing to discuss the question of experts I stated I felt my Government would not be disposed to give a definite opinion on this subject until the question of their instructions and duties had been fully determined.
Zumeta added he thought it important that the experts be limited solely to a study of “purely technical questions” as it was felt in some quarters that the Commission of Inquiry had exceeded its powers. To this the chairman answered he did not feel that an adequate plan of reform could be devised if the League nominees were too limited in their fields of investigation.
The meeting was adjourned until Monday38 in order that the Secretariat might have the opportunity of presenting a draft proposal of instructions to the experts and of their duties.
Although Zumeta expressed to me his hope that the United States had not construed as unfriendly his remarks at the last meeting about the third party invited to participate in the committee and the power of the League to invite another nation, adding he had merely raised a legal question, he is apparently desirous of limiting as far as possible the functions of the committee and of any experts who may be chosen. Lord Cecil on the other hand seems disposed to grant as wide powers as may be possible to the experts.
I hope to be able to communicate the substance of the draft instructions this evening and respectfully request the Department’s comments prior to the meeting on Monday. [Reber.]
- March 2.↩