COMMONWEALTH DEFENCE PACT PREDICTED: U.S. SPECULATION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22891, 10 March 1949, Page 5

COMMONWEALTH DEFENCE PACT PREDICTED: U.S. SPECULATION

(N.Z.P. A.— Reuter—Copyright.) (11 a . m .) WASHINGTON, March 9. Recurrent rumours in Washington that a British Commonwealth defence agreement will he announced soon are fortified by the announcement from London of British missions to Dominion capitals for urgent consultations.

They are also supported by reports from London that Britain has proposed urgent Commonweal

;h defence talks

It is believed the talks will concern joint defence plans in the face of the onward rush of communism through the Far East. <> Rumours had been circulating in Washington for the past three months that Commonwealth security, with a Commonwealth defence arrangement as its objective, has already been thoroughly discussed. Draft Agreement According to one report discussions on the subject dominated the Commonwealth conference in London in 1948. It is suggested that from this gathering the various Dominion leaders took home a draft agreement for_ discussion with their Governments. It is reported that various members of the Commonwealth, excepting South Africa, India and Canada were then prepared to enter a defence arrangement. South Africa’s Nationalist Government and uncertainty over the future status of India were responsible for reservations by those Governments at the London conference, . , Canada’s geographic location, it is explained, was the only reason for her non-inclusion. It is reported that a defence agreement, either with or without Indian or South African participation, was to have been formally completed at the conference at Colombo in May. Now, however, Britain apparently feels that developments in the East make a Commonwealth defence arrangement more urgent. Therefore, she is understood to have suggested a more accessible place than Ceylon and a nearer date than May. India’s Participation Doubtful

Washington says that India’s participation was doubtful, but that Pakistan and Ceylon indicated that they would be prepared to subscribe to a Commonwealth defence arrangement. It is felt that India may now believe her interests would be served by participation. A South African official in Washington declared that South Africa’s cooperation in any front against communism could be counted on. Significance is attached here to the statement at Johannesburg last night by Major-General Sir Francis de Guingand, Field Marshal Lord Montgomery’s wartime Chief of Staff who criticised South Africa’s “failure to give a lead to African defence and work out plans with her African neighbours and the British Commonwealth.’’ New Zealand and Australia would, of course, be parties. Indeed, they were the chief protagonists of a defence arrangement at the London conference. Those who question the value of a Commonwealth defence understanding without some form of American participation are led to the belief that the United States will be brought into it indirectly by a Pacific agreement to be made later. This, it is pointed out, together with a Mediterranean treaty already mooted, would complete a world-girdling chain of anti-Communist defensive arrangements.