DEPENDENT PEOPLES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25853, 25 May 1945, Page 6

DEPENDENT PEOPLES

MACHINERY OF TRUSTEESHIP PROGRESS IN DISCUSSIONS (Official News Service! SAN FRANCISCO, (Rec. 7 p.m.) May 23. Considerable progress is understood to have been made in the past few days in reaching agreement among the “ Big Five ” Powers in respect to the principles, objectives, and machinery of a trusteeship for dependent peoples. Discussions have been continued on the Chinese proposal that the words “ independence for all colonial peoples ” should be substituted for the reference to the development of self-government in the section dealing with general principles. The major political Powers have contended that a declaration of this type would be inappropriate in all cases; therefore, they would prefer to have the aim of independence stated in the section dealing with the territorial trusteeship system. The proposals, which have been adopted as a working basis by the Trusteeship Committee, over which the Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, is presiding, list the territories which should be placed under the trusteeship system in three categories: (1) Those now held under mandate; (2) those which may be detached from enemy States as the result of this war; (3) those voluntarily placed under the trusteeship system by States responsible for their administration. Lieutenant-commander Stassen is said to have informed the committee yesterday that negotiations on the question of inserting the word “ independence ” in the proposed charter were still proceeding, and that he hoped to report at the next meeting. It is understood that a compromise has in fact been submitted for their acceptance to the Governments of the major Powers, the gist of which is that that charter would list as the aim of the new organisation the fostering of the development towards self-govern-ment of independence in forms appropriate to the varying circumstances of each territory. , • It is thought probable that public reaction, as reflected in American press criticism of the United States delegation’s initial attitude towards the Chinese proposal, has been an important factor in bringing about what it is hoped will prove a generally acceptable basis for a compromise. A second problem arising out of the trusteeship proposals is also bqlieved to have disappeared, at least for the moment, from the area of the “Big Five” disagreement. This relates to the reported Russian insistence that the Security Council, with the veto power of each permanent member operative, should decide which areas are to be designated as strategic, a stipulation which is not acceptable to the United States Government. In this matter, as with the question of the trusteeship generally, the concern of the United States Navy Department over the future of the Pacific Island bases seized from the Japanese -has tended to be the dominant consideration in determining American policy. At a meeting of the Trusteeship Committee yesterday the Egyptian delegate proposed an amendment which would have had the effect of auto'matically placing all the territories at present-held under League mandates or acauired from the Axis in the present war under the trusteeship system, instead of having such arrangements made on a voluntary basis, as provided for in the draft proposal before the committee.

The amendment was defeated by a large majority;