CANBERRA CONFERENCE

Grey River Argus, 10 January 1944, Page 2

CANBERRA CONFERENCE

N.Z. AND AUSTRALIA Future of Pacific IMMIGRATION QUESTION [Aust. & N.Z. Press Assn.j SYDNEY, Jan. 9. The pending conference of senior Australian .and New Zealand Minis- , ters to be held at Canberra this month is being enthusiastically anticipated by Commonwealth political observers. It is seen as heralding the closest possible liaison bet.w'een the neighbouring Dominions, as well as foreshadowing much wider post-war relations with other Pacific nations. A conference agreement on the practical principles governingthe common security and future development of our t wo countries is regarded as certain. “Such conferences should be regular and routine affairs,” declares the Melbourne “Herald.” “That they have not been so is a discredit to earlier Governments. If the Pacific war has .achieved one vood thing it is that it has put an end to the Australian myth of isolation and forced us not only to know our neighbours, but to take heed of them.” . Post-war policy to guard .against future aggression in the Pacific will be a major topic for consideration by the conference. Australia is believed to favour the formation of a Pacific security zone, policed by Powers holding Pacific interests. It is suggested that the security zone proposal for the Pacific could be fitted into the general scheme for ensuring future world peace, which will be formulated by a general Peace Conference. Under the Pacific security zone proposal, nations whose territorial interests .are affected will probably contribute men, monev and materials for the defence of the area. As New Zealand and Australia are the most likely sufferers from .any future aggression in the Pacific, it is accepted here as essential that they should reach an agreement on this vital matter, before any broader conferences are held, involving orther Imperial iinterests, or foreign Powers. Considerable interest has been aroused in Australia by Mr Nash’s suggestion of a five-Power Federation, covering the Pacific Islands, from the Solomons to the Marquesas. Such an Australian-New Zealand zone of security might be our second line of defence to the suggested American belt of bases running across the Pacific from California to China, and including the Pelews, Carolines, Marianas, and Marshall Islands. Many observers believe that. Australia and (New will offer whole-hearted support to this and the reported Cairo conference plan of a broad American-held belt between them and Japan. More than concerning itself with actual defence matters, the pending meeting of Australian .and New Zealand Ministers is also regarded here as a first imnortant step in the broader policy of regional co-operation. Following the New Zealand-Austra-lia meeting, the Commonwealth proposes to call a conference of all Powers concerned in the South-west Pacific. These are expected to include the United States, Britain, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Portugal. Other subjects to be considered at The Australia-New Zealand ministerial talks, may include the complex problem of immigration, particularly of coloured immigration. “Australians believe it to be essential that both Dominions be free to develop as great white countries and bastions of British civilisation in the Pacific.” says the “Sydnev Daily Mirror,” editorially. “To do this they must have the strength that comes from hundreds of people from high standards of living and from expanding industrial economy.” Viewing closer Australia-New Zealand co-operation as preliminary to greatly widened Commonwealth international relations, and emphasising particularly the need for closest post-war relations with the United States, the Sydney “Herald” to-day says editorially: “It is not. alone for security’s sake that we should seek to work in closer association as a regular practice. Beyond security, hopes for the development of a richer life in the post-war . world demand the firmest basis of international understanding and such understanding unless continually cultivated is likely to be as impermanent as any old-time treaty of .alliance and friendship. Australia and New Zealand may well prove powerful influences in bringing about in the wider world that political cooperation between Britain and the United States w-hich purely European interests have in the past failed to achieve.” i — — =