PACIFIC WELFARE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22242, 30 January 1947, Page 5

PACIFIC WELFARE

EXPLORING PLANS PROPOSED COMMISSION TWELVE MEMBERS (9 a.m.) CANBERRA. Jan. 29. The South Pacific commission to promote the welfare of natives in this area will probably consist of 12 commissioners—two from each of the interested countries. This was tentatively decided in the committee stage of the South Seas Commission Conference here to-day. The president of the conference, Dr. H. V. Evatt, and the vice-president, Mr. W. Nash, said that the activities of the commission would cover all those non-self-governing Pacific territories administered by member Governments, lying wholly or in part south of the Equator east from, and including, Dutch New Guinea. Full or Part Time It was indicated that it was not yet decided whether commissioners should be appointed on a full-time or a parttime basis and that, on voting procedure, a two-thirds majority should be necessary for decisions. No decision was reached on the general structure of a secretariat or its location.

The objectives and functions of the proposed commission so far decided upon by the committees have been modelled largely on submissions by the New Zealand and Australian delegations. It has been tentatively agreed that the commission should be a continuing body, financed on an almost equally proportionate basis by the member countries. It has been proposed to the finance committee that there should first be established a capital fund and that, once established, the commission should budget for a programme to be financed on an almost equal basis by member contributions.