NOW EMPIRE LEADERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1945, Page 5

NOW EMPIRE LEADERS

AUSTRALIA AND N.Z. ■ ■..■■■.' \ DR. EVATT'S CLAIM (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, June 23. A correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says he learns authoritatively that the Australian delegation to San Francisco has taken the position that Australia and New Zealand are now the chief spokesmen for the British Empire, inasmuch as Britain's voice hereafter must be tempered by the demands of Big Five unity. This view is reported to have originated with Dr. Evatt, who expressed great anger inside the headquarters of the Australian delegation over a statement by Lord Halifax at yesterday's Press conference that Britain had taken the leading role in writing the trusteeship chapter in the new charter. Dr. Evatt claimed that, on the contrary, British leaders had been forced to abandon the decisions on trusteeship reached at the Empire conference in London last April because of pressure from other members of the Big Five. Dr. Evatt contended that Lord Halifax had failed to give the Australian delegation due credit for the fight to keep the London decisions in the charter. He argued that only Australia and New Zealand followed a straight course at UNCIO, therefore they could ■ rightfully claim the role of Empire spokesmen in the future. Reviewing Australian activities at UNCIO, Dr. Evatt said Australia could not have succeeded as well as she did but for the resolution and steadiness of supporting delegations, including important Latin-American, European, and Middle East nations and the Dominions. "I want to pay a particular tribute to Mr. Fraser, whose courage, frankness, and democratic approach to every question was of the utmost value," he said. "Relations between our • two countries will be made even closer by our success here."