CORFU CHANNEL CASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26779, 24 May 1948, Page 2

CORFU CHANNEL CASE

HEARING BEFORE HAGUE COURT MINED BRITISH DESTROYERS Special to the Daily Times LONDON, May 17. The allusion to the International Court of Justice in connection with the exchange of Notes between the British Minister in Guatemala City and the Guatemalan Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject of the sovereignty of British Honduras is a reminder that the only case to be considered by the Hague Court since the war will shortly be carried a stage further. This is the Corfu Channel Case, in which the United Kingdom and Albania are the disputants. It was on October 22, 1946, that the British . destroyers Suamarez and Volage sank in the Channel with the loss of 44 British lives. The Channel was later swept .by British minesweepers carrying a neutral observer and it was found on examination that two of the 22 mines swept were of large German make and had been recently laid.

The Government under Article 35 of the United Nations Charter, brought the matter to the notice of the Security Council who on April 9, following the Russian veto of the council resolution supporting the British charges, referred it to the International Court. (Article 36 of the Court’s Statute defines the court’s jurisdiction as comprising all cases in which the parties to it are members of the United Nations, and all treaties specially provided for in the Charter of the United Nations or in treaties and conventions in force.)

The .Albanian Government began to employ delaying tactics. At the same time as communicating (nearly two weeks late) the name of its agent for the hearing of the British case, it raised a preliminary objection that the United Kingdom had brought the case unilaterally and that it therefore disputed the court’s jurisdiction. On April 17 a House of Commons questioner asked the Foreign Secretary when the Hague Court would begin the hearing of the case. Mr Bevin said the following time limits had been fixed for the filing of subsequent written pleadings: First, for the counter-memorial of the Albanian Government, June 15; secondly, for the reply of the United Kingdom Government, August 2; thirdly, for the rejoinder of the Albanian Government, September 20. He added that once these written pleadings had been submitted, the court would make an order for the date of oral hearings, and he expressed sympathy with a further questioner who asked whether anything could be done to speed up proceedings. Widespread indignation, as has been stated, was aroused in this country both at the incident and at the Albanian attitude, and the public will await the outcome of this first case of the International Cburt with deep interest—and confidence.