A.—2

12

marks a considerable improvement over the old mandates system; and we set out the details of the machinery, in the form of a Trusteeship Council, by which the system will be operated. It must be appreciated, however, that, although the plan has been drawn up, the actual settlement of the many problems involved still remains a matter for future agreement. The effective application of the principle agreed upon at San Francisco, particularly in relation to the voluntary undertakings by the colonial Powers, will depend on their wholehearted acceptance of both the spirit and the machinery of trusteeship as laid down in the Charter. There are, moreover, the practical questions relating to the transfer of mandates to the new Organization which urgently require to be faced. These involve the consideration and consent of the Allied and Associated Powers (without Italy and Japan) who met at Versailles in 1919. We have yet to know what is to be the authority to transfer the mandate. So far as New Zealand is concerned, I stated on 20 June, at the conclusion of the Commission which approved the adoption of the trusteeship clauses of the Charter, " that we have accepted a mandate as a sacred trust, not as part of our sovereign territory. A mandate does not belong to my country or any other country. It is held in trust for the world. The work immediately ahead is how those mandates that were previously supervised by the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations can now be supervised by the Trusteeship Council with every mandatory authority pledging itself in the first instance, as the test of sincerity demands, whatever may happen to the territory afterwards, to acknowledge the authority and the supervision of this Trusteeship Council." Other matters of importance in the Charter to which the New Zealand delegation gave its earnest attention included the International Court of Justice, which, in spite of our efforts to secure the principle of compulsory jurisdiction, will be largely a continuation of the former Permanent Court. On the question of the Secretariat of the new Organization, also, we made strong and successful efforts to ensure the exclusively international character of the SecretaryGeneral and his staff. In reviewing the work and the achievements of the Conference in general terms I would like, first of all, to express wholehearted satisfaction that, despite its defects, the Charter has been finally drafted and agreed to by the representatives of fifty nations. These representatives came to San Francisco from every corner of the world; they represented almost every race, every creed, every shade of political thought; they met at a time when the world was still disrupted by war, and when many of their countries were suffering from its ravages and its devastation; they found common ground in their single-mindedness of purpose to save the world from another war, and they set up an organization on which men and women everywhere may seriously and earnestly, although not blindly, place their hope and their faith that that purpose will some day be fulfilled. The fruits of their labours are contained in this Charter. It is presented before all the United Nations for approval and ratification. In seeking the approval of the Charter by the New Zealand Parliament I make no profession that it is perfect. In fact, I consider that it has great defects, but the alternative was no agreement and no hope for the future of the world, no restraint on aggression. This Charter is at least a beginning, and, with all its imperfections, it marks the first step that with the help of experiment and experience in the years ahead can lead us to reach the goal of real and lasting international peace and security. In recommending that New Zealand should ratify the Charter, I feel it is my duty to draw special attention to the solemn obligations which every State assumes by such ratification. A full understanding of the nature of these obligations can, of course, be reached only by the study of the whole text of the Charter. Some of them should