“GREAT AND PROMISING ACHIEVEMENT”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 25 January 1944, Page 4

“GREAT AND PROMISING ACHIEVEMENT”

COMMENT ON ANZAC PACT “HERALD” CRITICISES CERTAIN FEATURES Sydney, This Day. “The brief proceedings of the Canberra conference can hardly have prepared the public for so ambitious, far ranging and detailed a treaty with its many clear-cut decisions and forthright statements of belief.” says the “Sydner Morning Herald” to-day. commenting editorially on the Anzac Pact, which it describes as a “remarkable achievement of British diplomacy.” “The two governments hammered out their historic pact with a speed and precision which testified alike to the unifying influences of war on our remote Pacific dominions and to the thoroughness with which the preparatory work of the done," adds the paper. “From their collaboration should flow substantial benefits not confined to the two nations directly concerned. By pooling their resources and co-ordinating their policies Australia and New Zealand will be able to provide the nucleus of a strong peace keeping group in the Southern Pacific, always assuming that they are ready to sustain an armed strength adequate to the responsibilities they now envisage." The paper points out. however, that no matter with what energy Australia and New Zealand develop their peace making armaments they still must rely for security on the might of the United States and Britain. The “Herald” suggests that in these circumstances there are a few paragraphs in the agreement which in their phrase-

ology and timing are liable ‘to cause misconception abroad. This applies particularly to the affirmation in clause 16 of the principle that wartime construction of military installations in any other country does not in itself give the constructing power any right of post-war sovereignty or control. “Whether it was necessary or tactful for the two governments at this time to proclaim their acceptance of a principle which has not been officially challenged is open to question,” comments the “Herald.” Assertions by globe trotting senators or other noisy people that America must own the bases she is building abroad can be taken too seriously. Australia and New Zealand who ow e so much to the United States forces do not want to seem ungrateful or over touchy about rights that have not been formally questioned.

In this and some other matters—notably the declaration that the final peace settlement should not be made until hostilities have ceased everywhere, and the decision to promote the establishment of a South Seas Regional Commission on which there ‘might be accredited representatives’ of Britain, and America—the Canberra conference may be exposed to criticism that it has exceeded its province and attempted too much too soon.” The “Herald” says the greatest value of the Anzac agreement lies in the

identity of interest and essential unity expressed between Australia and New Zealand. It concludes: “Our two coun tries have linked their destinies and

stand pledged to work in closest harmony for peace and the advancement of this area of the Pacific. Ths is a great and most promising achievement.”