MANDATES COMMISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 11

MANDATES COMMISSION.

VIEWS ON QUESTIONNAIRE. REPLIES FROM DOMINIONS. BRITISH ATTITUDE SUPPORTED. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. (Received 7.35 p..m.) A. and N.Z. GENEVA, Dec. 4. Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary-General of the League of Nations, has distributed the replies received from the French, New Zealand and South African Governments relating to the questionnaire drawn up by the Permanent Mandates Commission in reference to the administration of mandated territories and the eventual hearing of petitioners by the Commission. The replies are practically on the lines of the recent reply sent by the British Government deprecating both the questionnaire and the hearing of petitioners. General Hertzog (South Africa) says: "My Government is unreservedly in agreement with the observations and opinions of the British Government." Mr. Coates (New Zealand) says: " The New Zealand Government concurs entirely in the representations contained in the reply of the British Government." > A cablegram from London on November 21 stated:—The British Foreign Office consulted Australia, New Zealand and South Africa regarding the famous questionnaire of the Mandates Commission. In a lengthy reply the Foreign Office quotes the report submitted to the Council of the League of Nations in 1920 by M, Paul Hymans (Belgium). This said the Council was not required, either itself or through the Mandates Commission, to examine every detail cf administration, and did not possess the means to discharge such a herculean task. "In view of these considerations," says the reply of the Foreign Office, "the Empire's mandatory Governments feel that the proposals of the Commission are based on a misconception of the duties and responsibilities of the Council and the Commission. The theory that petitioners should have the means of making their grievances known is correct, but the suggestion that the Advisory Commission should give petitioners a hearing is an incorrect and dangerous application of the theory. " The questionnaire, therefore, is unnecessary for the purpose for which the mandates were established, and it is irreconcilable with M. Hyman's principles which the council accepted. If the Commission requires further information regarding petitions, Britain is confident that the mandatory Powers will be ready to reply fully to any inquiry. "Britain repeats the reply formerly given by British representatives, that they appreciate the care, attention and devotion with which the Mandates Commission has discharged its task, and trusts it will not regard Britain's reply as unfriendly or depreciatory."