ANZAC PACT

Grey River Argus, 1 February 1944, Page 3

ANZAC PACT

MR. FRASER’S ACCOUNT Nothing Coveted AUCKLAND Jah. 31. A statement that the .Australian and New Zealand Agreement would be submitted immediately t 0 Cabinet for .ratification was made by the Prime Minister, (Mr. Fraser), He added that when Parliament met, the agreement would be tabled as a Parliamentary paper for consideration, and members would have a full opportunity to discus<? it. He was firmly of the opinion that Parliament had a duty to consider international agreements of this character, and he was sure it would meet with their full approval. Mr. Fraser said he thought the agreement would prove most beneficial, not only to the two countries immediately concerned, but also to the’’other Pacific peoples. He wishes to make it clear that neither Government made any pretentious claims for the outcome of the conference. “The two Dominions applied at Canberra accepted principles of partnership and unity which is characteristic of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Although each member has the right to act independently, even on matters of foreign policy, it is an essential feature of the unity of the British Commonwealth that all should endeavour to pursue a common police ” said the Prime Mm“Viscount Halifax, in Montreal, recently spoke on this very point, laying stress on the desirability and necessity for a common policy m foreign affairs, defence, economics colonial questions, and communications. He also emphasised the fact that nothing should be left undone ho bring the people of the British Commonwealth into closer unity of thought and action, so 1 that in the reordering of the world the British Commonwealth and not the United Kingdom alone, could act with three other Great Powers- the United States, the U.S.S.R., and China — and thus sustain the peace of th« world.” Mr. Fraser said he was fully in accord with this viewpoint. Obviously responsibility for action in external affairs should be a matter for con--1 stant consultation and agreement between the Dominions and the Unite' 5 ' Kingdom, as the action of any one must tend to involve the others. The Australian and New Zealand agreement represented an extension of this principle of unity between members of the British Commonwealth. He was certain that the- peonle . f ‘ New Zealand would support this viewpoint, and also that of Mr. Cuitin, when he advocated a more complete and closer system of consultation between the Dominions and tne [ Motherland. OBJECTS OF PACT. P.A. WELLINGTON, Jan. 31. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Mr. Fraser, accompanied bv Mrs Fraser and the Minister of Defence, Hon. F. Jones, returned to Wellington today from Canberra, where the Aus-tralian-New Zealand conference was held. (Mr. Fraser said the conference had been conducted in the best possible spirit, and in a most businesslike manner. The results, as expressed in the Agreement, would, he thought, prove most beneficial, not only t 0 the two countries immediately concerned, but io other Pacific peoples also. . Mr Fraser said he wished to make it clear that no pretentious claims regarding the outcome of the conference were made by either Government. The delegates on both sides approached the various problems with open minds, and with the desire to place the position of their two countries in the proper perspective of world affairs. There was no attempt, and far less any intention, to legislate for other countries. The Agreement itself contained only matters upon which it was competent tor the two Governments to express their views. , „ In regard to the South Seas Regional Commission, it should be noted that the two Governments agreed to promote the establishment of such an advisory body, and expressed the hope that representatives of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the French National Committee might collaborate. On problems of security, post-war development, and native welfare in the South-west and South Pacific, the two Governments have agreed that there should be a frank 1 exchange of views with all of the Governments concerned, and it is left to the Commonwealth to take the necessary steps to call any such conference. Both Australia and New Zealand had a duty to their own peoples to ensure that the Governments of the two countries were represented on all of the international bodies which in any way affected their vital interests, such as the Armistice Commissions, the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the Food and Agriculture Commissions which it was intended to set up. Certainly the two Governments had ?n acknowledged right to be consulted on all matters affecting, the disposition of power or of territories in the Pacific arpas.' Referring to tiie discussions on postwar aviation, Mr. Fraser stressed, the I complicated nature of the subject, stating that international aviation could, in fact, well become a new instrument of aggrandisement. “The United Nations arc, I believe, all agreed upon this danger, but it is essential for them to grapple with the problem in a broad way, and to agree as lo the manner wherein international control should be established,” he said. The Australian and New Zealand Governments felt that there was something to be gained by stating in definite terms their own intention to'support, the internationalisation of main trunk routes. He was convinced that Australia and New Zealand were completely in line with the other United Nations on this question. The understanding reached at Canberra, continued Mr. Fraser, envisaged ■&' world system of security, in which our two countries would play their full part in that spirit of enlightenment, co-operation and good will which he believed, characterised the Agreement they had signed and brought back with them. The Canberra Conference would, he believed, come to be regarded as an ,historic instance of two Dominions [supplying a democratic method of 'free and frank consultations in reaching decisions affecting their policy in (regard to their external affairs. I Others who returned to Wellington 'to-day were Mr. A. D. Mclntosh. (Secretary for External Affairs), Miss w. Jordan, of the Primo Minister’s Department, and Mr. M. Moohan, the iSecretary of the Now Zealand Labor r Party!. The parly were met at the Wellington station by; Hon. D. G. S'ulli.van, who has been acting-Prime Minister 'during Mr. Fraser’s absence.

i Basis of Peace ! ENEMIES MUST REGAIN , PROSPERITY. | MR. R. G. MENZIES’ VIEWS. CANBERRA, Jan. 31. Mr. R. G. Menzies, Leader of the Federal Opposition, addressed a sum-

mer school of the Australian Institute of Political Science. About fivehundred people are attending. Mr Menzies said that real peace and a real restoration of world prosperity would require that the victors worked, not for their .own prosperity only, but also for a prosperous Germany and a prosperous Japan. His formula for world stability included, besides a prosperous Germany and .lanan, an association of peace-loving nations, beginning with British and American collaboration. For the Pacific he advocated a system of collective security, in which Australia would accept reciprocal duties with powerful friends and allies.