NORTH ATLANTIC PACT

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25739, 26 February 1949, Page 7

NORTH ATLANTIC PACT

Reference To Armed Aid Restored To Draft

APPROVAL BY U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE FORECAST

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, Febr 25 The use of armed aid has been restored to the draft of the proposed North Atlantic Pact, according to the Washington correspondent of the “New York TimesAjames He says that the sense of the disputed article now is: “That in the even of armed attack on one of them, the signatories would assist each other in such ways—and also, if necessary, with armed force—-as would seem desirable to defend the* North Atlantic area. Reston says: “The new draft is not as direct as the former version, which would have obliged the signatories to ‘take military or other action forthwith’ in the event of armed attack against one of the pact members; but it does restore the reference to armed force, which was recently eliminated at the suggestion of Senator Tom Connally (Democrat) and Senator Arthur Vandenberg (Republican). , *‘ T K e Se " etary f ■? t ? te < Mr Dean Acheson) will consult the Ambassadors of Britain, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg to-morrow on the new version of the draft, and will submit it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week, when approval is likely.”

PARTICIPATION BY NORWAY

The Norwegian Government be- : lieved that it should take part in the North Atlantic Pact discussions and do so sufficiently early to be able to present its views on how such a treaty should be formed, said the Norwegian Foreign Minister (Mr Halyard Lange) in Parliament in Oslo , to-day. He added that it would be for Par- : liament to ratify the treaty, if and when the Government made a final decision on the pact. The Norwegian answer to the Russian offer of a non-aggression treaty would be submitted as soon as Par- <

liament, during the next week, had been able to formulate its attitude towards the questions raised in the Russian offer. . Mr Lange said his talks in Washington had strengthened his Government’s conviction that the Atlantic Pact had no offensive front against anyone. He was assured that there would be no request in peace time for joint bases for countries adhering to the pact. He had reason to believe that from a .security point of view, the participating countries would be united as closely as was consistent with political and constitutional conditions in the individual countries.