BROAD OUTLINES ONLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1944, Page 5

BROAD OUTLINES ONLY

CONFERENCE DECISIONS '

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) Rec 10 10 a.m. CANBERRA, Jan. 20. The first Australian-New Zealand Ministerial conference of the war nas m&?b£fc strokes on the huge canvas of inter-Dominion, Empire, legional, and international P°s{: w« c^JSg". tion. But because of the great ramincations of the many issues involved and the consequent need for careful diplomatic approach to matters touching the interests of other Unitea Nations, only broad outlines of the purposes and decisions of the conference have been officially announced. The tenor of the official releases indicates clearly that the conference has made a purely preliminary survey ot the vast ground to be covered and that many interchanges and other gatherings must follow before specific ques--I(Australian political observers unanimously praise the liberal spirit of compromise and good will with which. the conference tackled its business achieving celerity which exceeded all official expectation. Such evident give and take and cordiality are accepted as a guarantee of success for the new Anzac pact to be signed today. However, despite the acknowledged need for reticence in some matters, pleas are being made here for more detailed official information on subjects which are known to have been discussed. NEED OF PUBLIC DISCUSSION. "It would not be enough," says the "Melbourne Age" in an editorial, "for the delegates to agree on lines of action and then go their ways satisfied with the results of the talks in camera, perhaps reserving to themselves., the more concrete and specific of the understandings. Even though there is need of diplomacy, historic gatherings of this kind should be the forerunner nf jjpf.ivfi public discussion and en-