However this may be, it is important to notice here the provisions in this regard. The Conference for the Reduction of Armaments has, under the hypothesis, adopted a Plan for such reduction. That Conference has also to fix the time within which that Plan is to be carried out. The Council of the League is then to consider whether the Plan for the Reduction of Armaments adopted by the Conference has or has not been carried out within that fixed period. Presumably such consideration by the Council of the League would be had immediately after the expiration of the period fixed by the Conference; the Council, if it then considers that the Plan for the Reduction of Armaments has not been carried out, being limited, however, in such consideration to "the grounds" (French text--"conditions") laid down by the Conference in that respect, then declares that the Plan has not been carried out and the Protocol becomes "null and void." Accordingly, the Protocol can come into force as a legal obligation only on the date of the adoption by the Conference of the Plan for the Reduction of Armaments; and from that date till the date when the Council of the League of Nations declares that the Plan has or has not been carried out, it may be said {7} that the Protocol is only _provisionally_ in force; it is subject to avoidance. The question here arises as to what is meant by the language of the Protocol when it speaks of the Plan for the Reduction of Armaments being "carried out," or, in the French text, "execute." This is a question rather difficult of answer. Certainly the expression can hardly refer to the actual _physical_ carrying out of such a Plan; for that might require a very long period. It seems to me that the expression envisages the formalities requisite for such a Plan. The Conference for the Reduction of Armaments which is to draw up a Plan for such reduction is to draw up, in other words, a Treaty or Treaties between the parties to bring about such reduction. Such Treaty, or such Treaties, will of course be voluntary agreements and will of course require ratification subsequent to the holding of the Conference itself. Accordingly, it is my view that the "carrying out" of the Plan for the Reduction of Armaments adopted by the Conference means in the Protocol the ratification of such Plan, that is to say, the transformation of the Plan into a binding agreement. Of course, the precise terms as to ratification, the number of ratifications required, the time of the deposit of ratifications and all such other formalities are for the Conference to decide; the reference here, however, is to those provisions as they may be drafted.