Costs Rise; Funds Fall

At the Geneva meeting a six man "senior staff' was appointed which together with the junior staff, travel expenses and other expenditures in Geneva will cost 260,000 Swiss francs. This together with 62,000 Swiss francs (for field staff) raises the total administrative expenditure to 332,000 Swiss francs or more than 25 per cent, of the Budgeted income. During discussion it appeared that estimation of the income is very optimistic and following many complaints about the administrative expenditure and the preference for relief it was decided for the sake of "a presentation" not to put explicitly in the budget the 62,000 Swiss francs for field staff, but to include it, without specific mention, in the "programme" as relief. Also only 148,000 of the remaining 260,000 Swiss francs for administration will appear in the budget as such, but a special resolution was passed authorising the Executive Committee to spend up to 260,000 Swiss francs for Central administration "recognising that the sum allotted for central administration will be insufficient to support an adequate staff." The same resolution authorises the Executive Committee "to curtail expenditures on any project or combination of projects" if the difference of 112,000 Swiss francs could not be raised. A proposal that in this case relief is not curtailed was defeated. Nothing precise could be offered to how much Well be spent on relief. The meeting of the ISS Secretaries in South-East Asia at the end of January in Ceylon was estimated to cost 13,000 Swiss francs (Mr. Bisley, N.Z. Representative, could perhaps tell us something of this). Also planned was a seminar in the Middle East to be located in Cyprus or Rhodes estimated to cost 15,000 Swiss francs.