TREATY REVISION SOUGHT

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25081, 13 January 1947, Page 7

TREATY REVISION SOUGHT

Military Base At Spitzbergen SOVIET REQUEST TO NORWAY (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 11. The Norwegian Government has issued a communique stating that Russia raised the question of revising the Svalbard (Spitzbergen) Treaty of 1920 with the Norwegian Government in exile in London, in 1944, claiming that she had special interests in the archipelago, and that the treaty had been made without,, her participation. The question has how been raised again. Britain, the United States, and France have been told of Russia’s request The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Mr Lange, denied reports that Russia had asked Norway for Beir Island, between northern Norway and Spitzbergen. Mr Lange said the conversations with Russia on the subject of military bases in Spitzbergen had bqen confidential and he was not in a position to give details. He cpuld -onlv say they had discussed the revision of the existing treaty and that both parties had agreed that no revision was possible without the consent of all, the signatories. Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent said that a British ‘Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that Russia had asked for permission to establish a military base at Spitzbergen, which, under international agreement, was prohibited from being used for war-

like purposes. The spokesman said that Britain had received no request for . modification of the Svalbard Treaty, the signatories to which are the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, France, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Holland, Sweden, India, and Norway. Political observers in London consider the Russians’ request to Norway for bases at Spitzbergen is a direct reply to the United States’ request last year for military-facilities in Iceland, says Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent. The interest of the Great Powers in Arctic bases, and the dispatch of expeditions to the Antarctic by seven. Powers, indicates the sternly strategic interest in the future development of trans-polar flights, rather than scientific and geological research, whaling prospects, or sheer adventure.

By a treaty signed on February 3, 1920, the sovereignty of Norway over the Spitzbergen Archipelago was recognised by the Great Powers and other interested nations, and on August 14, 1925, the archipelago was officially taken over by Norway. Jn September, 1941, Allied forces (British, Canadian, and Norwegian) landed on the main island. After destroying the accumulated stocks of coal and dismantling the mining machinery and the wireless installation, they took the Norwegian inhabitants (about 600) to a British port and the Russians (about 1500) to Russia. The estimated area of the archipelago is 24,295 square miles. The area of the main island, West Spitzbergen, is 15,200 square miles. SURViVORS OF CRASH SURVEY FLIGHT TO ANTARCTICA (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Jan. 11. The Navy announced that a searching aeroplane had sighted the burned wreckage of the Martin Mariner which disappeared on December 30, with a crew of nine, during a survey flight over Antarctica. The aeroplane reported that at least six men were alive near-the wreckage. A rescue aeroplane landed on a strip of open water, eight miles from the burned, twisted wreckage of the aircraft whose six survivors have fought the bitter Antarctic cold for 12 days. The pilot and a pharmacist’s mate went ashore on a raft to greet the survivors struggling across the snow from the scene of the .crash. The aeroplane had struck the ice barrier at an altitude of 1000 feet on a peninsula 50 miles north of Cane Dart, jutting into Roosevelt Sea. The first aeroplane to sight the wreckage dropped supplies to the men, and also indicated that there was open water ahead, where the rescue aeroplane would land. The survivors signalled that three members were dead.

TRADE UNION RIGHTS

PARIS CONFERENCE’S DECISION

(Rec. 9 n.m.) PARIS, Jan. 10. The World Federation of Trade Unions at a conference decided t© submit to the United Nations Economic and Social Council recommendations for the recognition of trade union rights in all countries and for equality of wages between immigrant and national workers.