33. As regards the question of amendments to the Covenant, the French representative did not, during the general discussion in a plenary meeting of the First Committee, specify the nature of the amendments suggested by the French Delegation. He contented himself with drawing attention to three points. The first was the last sentence of article 13 of the Covenant, which provides that in the event of any failure to carry out an arbitration award, the Council shall propose what steps shall be taken to give effect thereto. This the French Delegation regarded as inadequate. The second was the provision of article 15 by which, if the Council cannot reach a unanimous decision, the parties to a dispute which is submitted to the Council recover their liberty of action. Here, he said, was a gap in the {233} Covenant which must be filled. Was the position to be perpetuated, he asked, by which any one member of the Council could completely prevent a peaceful settlement of a dispute? The third was paragraph 8 of article 15, which provides that in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of a State the Council can make no recommendation. The French Delegation asked the Committee to consider whether it would not be possible to discover a method of friendly conciliation over matters relating to domestic jurisdiction. 34. After the general discussion had been declared closed, the First Committee adjourned for a week and entrusted to a sub-committee, known as the Fifth Sub-Committee, the task of formulating concrete proposals. The work done by this sub-committee was of such importance that it is considered desirable to indicate its composition, which was as follows: Mr. Adatci (Japan). Count Albert Apponyi (Hungary). M. Loucheur (France). Mr. John O'Byrne (Irish Free State). M. Erich (Finland). M. Raul Fernandez (Brazil). Sir Cecil Hurst (British Empire). M. Nicolas Politis (Greece). M. Rolin (Belgium). M. Vittorio Scialoja (Italy). M. Nicolas Titulesco (Roumania). M. Torriente (Cuba). M. Limburg (Netherlands). M. Unden (Sweden). 35. The discussion was taken up on the 12th September in the sub-committee on the lines of the general debate in the full Committee. The meetings were not open to the public. As regards the proposed British reservation to the acceptance of the obligatory jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice, by signing the optional clause in the Statute of the Court, some opposition developed at first from two quarters. Subsequently, however, it waned and did not reappear. {234} 36. As regards the extension of the principle of arbitration by amendments to the Covenant, it at once became clear that there were many conflicting views as to the best system to adopt. The days were spent mainly in ascertaining, inside and outside the sub-committee, the extent and the nature of the different points of view.