The U.N. General Assembly’s steering committee yesterday removed the Panamanian proposal for a world revision of the calendar in 1950 from the agenda of the Assembly session. Under the U.N. rules the only body which can now place the item back on the agenda is the Assembly itself, which is considered here quite unlikely.
The proposal was opposed by a number of Jewish bodies, including the Agudas Israel, because the calendar would have upset the Jewish Sabbath, often forcing it to fall on a different day of the week. The Panamanian proposal was set up in such fashion that if this Assembly session does not change the calendar, this particular type of calendar cannot be introduced easily for another 50 years.
The motion to postpone consideration of the Panamanian resolution was made by American delegate Warren Austin who asserted that the question was too “complicated.” The vote was four to four, with six abstentions. Under the Assembly’s rules of procedure a tie vote counts for the motion, which in this case was for postponement.
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