Security 119.

1. The second meeting of the membership Committee [1] today spent
nearly three hours in further discussion whether the Committee
should consider statements submitted by states not members of the
Security Council. At the outset the Australian representative
proposed the following resolution. 'The Committee will consider
written statements of the fact from any of the applicant states or
from any member of the United Nations bearing on the applications
which the Committee has been instructed to examine.' He said that
it should go without saying that the Committee had powers
necessary to carry out functions entrusted to it but since the
question had been raised and since one member of the Committee had
challenged the Committee's powers the Committee should decide the
general principle in order to avoid repeated discussions of the
same point on each application. He supported his resolution with
further arguments regarding rights of all members of United
Nations to submit information to any of the organisations and the
necessity for a complete and objective examination of all facts
relevant to the submission.

2. After prolonged debate during which the Soviet representative,
helped to some extent by Sobolev, tried various methods of
preventing a decision, the Australian resolution was adopted by
seven votes to one, Poland, Egypt and Mexico abstaining, the first
from sympathy with Soviet and the other two from sheer ignorance.

3. A resolution proposed by China affirming that the Committee had
the right to ask information from Governments of member states or
applicants was also adopted. It was agreed that both resolutions
should be reported to the Security Council, it being left to the
Security Council to decide whether or not it wished formally to
reject them. This action was taken in deference to the Soviet
argument that the Committee did not have the power to decide these
matters but in practice it places the onus on the Soviet to call
for public debate on refusal to receive evidence.

4. Committee adjourned to Monday afternoon when it will commence
examination of Albanian application.