POLICY ON JAPANESE PEACE TERMS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25273, 27 August 1947, Page 7

POLICY ON JAPANESE PEACE TERMS

British Commonwealth Conference Opens EIGHT COUNTRIES MEETING AT CANBERRA (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) CANBERRA, August 26. In an atmosphere of secrecy eclipsing any war-time precautions at Parliament House, the Empire Conference to determine British Commonwealth policy on the Japanese peace terms opened at Canberra to-day. Security officers are stationed at strategic points, all strangers are barred, and the delegates and advisers from eight Empire countries are sitting behind locked doors in the House of Representatives Chamber. Opening the conference, the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Chifley) said: “We hope the talks will be a contribution to the restoration of stability which is so badly needed.” The British Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (Lord Addison) said that the conference was historic, not only because it was the first of its kind held outside London, but also because it was the first attended by representatives of tho new Dominions, India and Pakistan.

The matters to be decided are: (1) procedural questions at the final peace settlement with Japan; (2) basic objectives to be secured by Empire countries; (3) control and supervision of Japan; (4) territorial provisions such as the allocation of Japan’s former overseas empire; (5) the demilitarisation and disarmament of Japan; (6) political, financial, and economic provisions to be borne by Japan; (7) reparations. The “big three” of the conference are stated by correspondents to be Dr. H. V. Evatt, Australia’s Minister of External Affairs, Lord Addison, and the young British Minister of State, Mr Hector McNeil. Dr. Evatt was unanimously elected chairman.

Delegates from Burma are expected late to-hight or to-morrow, having been delayed by monsoon weather. There was applause as Sir Rama Rau, the Indian delegate, rose to speak. "I can assure you that as a result of the magnificent gesture made by Great Britain all racial feeling in India is practically dead to-day,” he said. “We can look forward to a period of cordiality in all the spheres of activity with which we are associated.” Mr Brooke Claxton, of Canada, said that the attendance of the Canadian delegation was an indication of Canada’s interest in Pacific affairs. “The settlement we are working at here,” he concluded, "is one of the means of tackling the problem of catchlng l up with the reality that this is, in fact, one world.” It was learned officially that Australia and probably Britain would attempt as far as possible to keep the decisions on the broadest basis. The fear exists that at the final Japanese peace talks other nations are likely to accuse the Empire countries of acting as a bloc with a rigid predetermined policy. Level of Japanese Industry Sir George Sansom, writing in the "Manchester Guardian” on the Canberra cbnference. says; "The level of Japanese industry is likely to be the most difficult problem confronting the

Powers drafting the peacq treaty. Experience has shown that democratic and liberal institutions flourish best in times of commercial and industrial vitality, but the • present economy of Japan, always one of scarcity, is feeble and contracted. "Her resources need careful hus-

banding by means of controls which, though economic in purpose, cannot fail to impinge upon her social and political life. These are, to say the least, not favourable conditions for the growth of freedom among a people whose tradition has always emphasised duties at the expense of rights. "In the light of experience in Germany. neither Britain nor the United States can afford a state of affairs which is likely to involve them in a continual drain of expenditure and a shortage of the commodities which both countries require. The Americans, who find themselves committed to a very large expenditure, feel this particularly keenly, and are therefore likely to advocate a very large increase in the level of Japanese industry. “The increase at present envisaged by the Americans is larger than that proposed by any of the other occupying Powers, but the United States is likely to insist that the question of security can largely be left to her own strategic plans and preparations, and to show little regard for the grievances of those who stand to suffer from Japanese competition.” Comment by "The Times” "The Times” (London) in a leading article says: "The Canberra discussions are designed to ensure that the Commonwealth nations fully realise their collective as well as their individual interests in the shaping of the terms of the-Japanese treaty. Australia has not content to emphasise the magnitude of Australia’s stake in Pacific security, but has been at pains to ensure that the Commonwealth’s wider interests are so fully discussed that nothing will go by default in the peace conference. “The contribution of the Eastern partners will ensure that the conference is not dominated exclusively by Western lines of thought. The Eastern members of the Commonwealth, while fully sharing the conviction that Japan must be deprived of the means of gratifying her traditionally deepseated desires for aggression, will not fail to realise that the real task of framing peace terms is to ensure that the Japanese people have both an opportunity and an incentive to regain an honoured place in the company of nations by the practice of the arts of peace.

“Some form of international supervision will be required to maintain Japanese disarmament after the occupation ends.”

Birth Aboard minutes after an airliner took off from Medford, Oregon, for San Francisco, a 17-year-old woman passenger gave birth to a daughter. The airliner’s 21-year-old purser and a fellow passenger, who was an undergraduate nurse, assisted at the birth.—New York, August 26.