THE SMALL NATIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 July 1946, Page 7

THE SMALL NATIONS

EQUAL VOICE IN PEACE MAKING DR. EVATT SPEAKS OUT LONDON; July 29. At the first session of the Peace Conference in Paris to-day, the Australian delegate (Dr. H. V. Evatt) raised important points of procedure. Dr. Evatt pointed out that the .Committee on Procedure would have to determine the organisation of the whole conference. The status of the 17 nations outside the Big Four was a matter of supreme importance. Speaking with great emphasis, Dr. Evatt declared that those 17 nations had as much right to participate in making the final peace settlement as had the Foreign Ministers. “I do not want there to be any mistake about that,” Dr. Evatt said. “We must have it made clear whether this conference will proceed on an ordinary majority or a special majority. By a special majority I mean a majority of two-thirds. The Committee on Procedure must decide this and other matters before the first ordinary meeting of the conference as a whole.” “Dr. Evatt made a minor outburst at the opening of the conference when he demanded equal voices for the small nations,” says the Daily E x_ press correspondent. 4 Apart from this, the conference opened peacefully and promisingly. Indeed, in the early stages there is almost a garden party atmosphere. “The conference hall is a large semi-circle .like an opera theatre,' with red plush seats rising tier above tier to the galleries. In the centre there is a dais with the interpreters below, and a semi-circle of marble columns with settees rising behind. “Never can there have been such a streamlined and unpretentious conference as this. The delegates filed in quietly, finding their places by big placards on the rows of desks.” . M. Bidault, the French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, was elected the first president of the Conference. He was proposed by the American Secretary of State (Mi. James Byrnes), and there were no other nominations. It was agreed to send an myitation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Mr. Trygve Lie) to attend. AMERICAN PLAN FOR OPEN CONFERENCE LONDON, July 29. “The American delegation .to the Paris Peace Conference has disclosed that Mr. Byrnes intends to propose that all negotiations at the conference should be open to the world s press,” says the Associated Press coi ie “Mr. d< Byrnes, if the proposal is turned down, intends to suggest tha ’ each conference commission appoint a special officer to inform newspaper correspondents of happenings within the closed sessions.” The Paris correspondent oi tne Evening Standard says that Mr. Bvrnes aims at freedom of information throughout the conference, so that the world will know what the statesmen are doing. While the conference will accept Mr. Byrne’s proposal that the plenary sessions should be open to the press, it is doubtful whether he will get the necessary two-thirds majority to open the meetings of the commissions which will examine the details of the treaties.