Anzac Pact Signed

Northern Advocate, 22 January 1944, Page 3

Anzac Pact Signed

(Special) CANBERRA, This Day. The Australia-New Zealand Pact was signed -yesterday in the Chamber of the Commonwealth House of Represeentatives. Each Minister of the two Governments who attended the historic Anzac Conference, witnessed the agreement. The text of the pact will he made public simultaneously in Australia and Ne\A r Zealand. It can be stated authoritatively that the pact covers only the broad agreements already indicated by official releases from the conference. There are no secret clauses. A colourful ceremony marked the signing of the agreement. Proceedings were recorded and newsreel cameramen were present. Notable speeches were made by the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand (Messrs Curtin and Fraser), who each stressed the spirit of inter-Dcminion, Empire, regional and international co-operation underlying the agreement. “We have not in any way impaired

the sovereignty of our respective peoples by this agreement we have made,” declared Mr Curtin. ‘‘ln fact, we have proved that as peoples whose control of their own affairs is absolute, we have been able to incorporate into this agreement a spirit of mutuality which we believe will be so deep and so lasting that this conference becomes a matter of deep historic significance in affairs not only of the two Dominions but in relationships to the British Empire as a whole and the world at large.” “This agreement does not in any way impinge on the full sovereignty of both countries,” said Mr Fraser. “We have shown that our two countries can reach agreement without cutting across the harmony of the British Empire or of international relationships. “There has never been any thought of scoring points. Nothing in this agreement is aimed at any other nations, whether inside the British Commonwealth or outside British sovereignty.”