NAURU IS. POLICY

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30466, 13 June 1964, Page 13

NAURU IS. POLICY

Australia Attacked

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, June 12. The Soviet Union yesterday criticised Australian policy in Nauru as aimed at ■ subjugating” the people of the island by resettling them and refusing to grant them sovereignty. The Soviet statement in the U.N. Trusteeship Council contrasted sharply with the praise given to the administering authority of the trust territory by the United States delegate, who said the Australian record in economic, political, social and educational development was “bright.” The statements followed an assertion by a Nauruan adviser, Mr Austin Bernicke, that the people were satisfied with the arrangements made for medical services, education and the administration of justice. Australia has offered the Nauruans Curtis Island for resettlement because of the exhaustion of Nauru’s phosphate resources. The Soviet delegate, Mr Pavel Shakhov, said Australia had demonstrated a “clear unwillingness” to take heed of the wishes of the Nauruan people. “Having compelled them to accept resettlement, Australia wants the physical liquidation of the trust territory and to subjugate the Nauruan people on another island,” he said.