What is a Mandate?

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19400, 28 August 1928, Page 6

What is a Mandate?

A recent issue of the Nation and Athenasum has an interesting article on the status of Mandatory Powers by Mr Leonard Stein, written just before the Permanent Mandates Commission published its findings in connexion with New Zealand's administration of Samoa. Mr Stein, who expresses nothing but admiration for our work among the Samoans, fastens upon a passage in the unfortunate catechism issued by Sir George Richardson—"Has the "League of Nations any control over "Samoa? N/o,"—and remarks mildly that "it-can hardly be said to give a " satisfactory account of the relations "between Mandatory Powers, Man- " dated territories, and the League." Most people, indeed, will regard Sir George Richardson's statement of the position as being not merely unsatisfactory but wrong, but a closer examination of the matter will show that the Administrator had conceivably a legal, if not a moral, excuse for his indiscretion. For the question of where the sovereignty over a Mandate lies has not yet been satisfactorily decided. It was raised in an acute form in 1926 by the following statement in the preamble to a treaty between South-West Africa and Angola; "Under a Mandate issued by " the League of Nations, the Union of " South Africa, subject to the terms of " the said Mandate, possesses sover- " eignity over South' West Africa, lately "under the sovereignty of Germany," The Mandates Commission called the attention of the League Council to the matter and enquired whether the language of the preamble accurately defined the principle, but the Council wag eontent to forward the Commission's letter to the South African Government without com' meat, The Commission' however, was not prepared to shelve such a vital issue and induced the League Council to discuss it at a session m September, 1937; The report of the Netherlands representative, which was adopted, stated cautiously that the relationship [between a Mandatory Power and the territory under control] is clearly a new one in international law, and for this reason the use of some of the timehonoured terminology in the same way. as previously is perhaps sometimes inappropriate to the new conditions. Tbip did' not do much to clarify the situation, which has not altered much since, but it is possible to make too much of what is, after all, a matter of political theory. Even if it is impossible to define satisfactorily the Status of a Mandatory Power, the obligations of .such a Power are quite [clear, and if they are faithfully obi served:nO serious trouble can arise.