Another very prickly question has been raised partly by the
Sub-Committee of the League and partly by the Turks as to the exact function of the Council in the Mosul dispute. Did the Council undertake " to give a clear decision, an arbitral decision " ? It has always been understood that this was exactly what the Council did undertake and nobody, not even Turkey, cast any doubts upon the nature of the task till last week. The Council • instead of asserting and standing by the comprehensive- ' ness of the duty imposed upon it has preferred to refer the matter to the Permanent Court of Justice at The Hague. The questions laid before the Court are whether the Council is competent, under the Treaty of Lausanne to give a binding arbitral award, whether its decision must be unanimous, and whether Turkey and Great Britain have a right to vote. It is a great pity that the Council "did not foresee these difficulties and invoke the services 'of the Permanent Court of Justice in good time. As it is, the only authority apart from the Permanent Court is the highly ambiguous Treaty of Lausanne.
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