INTERNAL DISSENSION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 1, 1 July 1926, Page 9

INTERNAL DISSENSION

IN PHOSPHATE COMMISSION

COMMISSION OF INQUIRY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, 25th June,

' As a result of questions asked in the House of Representatives, the Commonwealth Government appointed Sir Arthur Robinson, M.L.C., a well-known Victorian politician and former Minister, 'to act as a Commissioner to inquire into the operations of the British Phosphate Commission. The questions asked in tho Representatives directed the attention of the Government to the recent decision of the Commission to transfer its head office from Australia ■to New Zealand, but tho dispute is two rears old. :' To trace the history of tho dispute, one has to go through the history of j'thc Commission itself. The British Phosphate Commission was first formed to control tho rich phosphate deposits on Nauru and Ocean Islands. The partner countries were Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. When the Commission took over tho deposits from tho Pacific Phosphato Company, which formerly controlled them, £3,500,000 was paid. Of that sum, the Commonwealth contributed £1,500,000. Mr. A. E. Dickinson, who was formerly managing director of the Pacific Phosphates Company, was -appointed Commissioner for Great Britain, Mr. H. B. Pope (a former employee of the company) was made Commissioner for Australia, and Mr. A. F. Ellis, the original discoverer of the deposits, acted for New Zealand. ALLEGED ORIGIN OF THE TROUBLE. The three partner countries drew -up an agreement, dated 2nd July, 1919, to work the deposits, and under the terms of that it was agreed that the three partner Governments had sole rights to buy tho phosphates, but that sales could be made to foreign countries with the unanimous consent of the three Commissioners. Great Britain took no deposits for nearly five years, and several 'sales wero made to Japan, with a few small lots to European countries. By 102-t Australia was buying practically the entire output, and it was the alleged action of the British Commissioner (Mr. Dickinson) in desiring to_ continue foreign sales which was said to •be the origin of the trouble. Mr. Dickinson's plan apparently was to send phosphates from Makatca, a French island, over which the original company had secured an option, to Australia and New Zealand, and sell tho other phosphates at a profit, thus reducing the price to the three countries of tho agreement. Mr. Pope vetoed this suggestion, and after subsequent difference of opinion, it is alleged, the Commissioners were not on speaking terms. The latest development was a cable, dated 26th May, from the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (Mr. Amery) to tho Governor-General of the Commonwealth, contending that harmony was impossible in the Commission as long as tho present Australian Commissioner remained in office. The terms of reference for Sir Arthur Robinson's inquiry are as follow:—(1) To inquire into and report on the alleged . inharmonious relations existing between tho Australian Commissioner on tho one hand, and tho British and New Zealand Commissioners on the other handfi and between the Australian Commissioner and the executive and staff of the Commission; (2) to inquire into the manner in which such relations have arisen, and the person or persons responsible for them; (3) to inquire into the extent to .which such relations have affected the interests of the Commission in general, and of Australia in particular; (4) to inquire into the extent to which thoy contributed towards the decision of the Commissioners! to transfer the head office of tho Commission from Australia to New Zealand; and (5) to report how far the investigations of the Royal Commission support tho contention contained in tho cablegram from Mr. Amery. Sir-Arthur Robinson will probably begin taking evidence on Monday or Tuesday next. Most of tlio cvidonco will'be documentary, .and as tho Government of tho Commonwealth is at present not anxious that tho Commission's "dirty linen" should be washed in public, ■■ an effort will bo made to have the sittings in camera.