NAURU AGREEMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1860, 9 July 1920, Page 5

NAURU AGREEMENT.

CONSIDERED BY STANDING COMMITTEE.

SUBJECTION TO LEAGUE COVENANT.

LONDON. July 7. The question was raised in ilie House of Commons as to whether the Government proposed to control the selling price of Nauru phosphates. Colonel Atnery (Undcr-Sccvetary to tr.o Colonial Office) replied that no arrangements had yet been made. Tho House of Commons Standing Committee is considering the ,Nauru Island Agreement Bill. Lord Robert Cecil moved an amendment making the agreement subject to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Sir J. D. Roes asked if it were seriously contended that when a. mandate was granted to a great nation for administration of territory it must come to the Council of the League for approval of any action taken. Colonel Leslie Wilson, who is in charge of tho Bill, disagreed with the amendment, and said that if the Government accepted it. such acceptance would involve an admission that the agreement did not accord with the Treaty. Tho agreement; was signed by the Premiers of Britain, Australia, and Now Zealand, and tlio Peace Treaty boro the same signatures. To accept such an amendment would suggest tjiat those gentlemen were not prepared to honour their pledges. If Lord Robert Cecil accepted the assurance that they .were prepared to carry out tho Peace Treaty his amendment was unnecessary. A long discussion followed, and B’e nmendmdfrc. was carried. —(A. and N.Z. cable). [Paragraph 8 of Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant roads.: The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon bv members of the League, bo explicitly defined in each case by the Council.]