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the permanent site be deferred till the September meeting of the Assembly; meantime, the Secretary-General should consider the question. The Netherlands representative, on the other hand, advocated that the Interim Committee's recommendation on the permanent site should be approved, with the proviso that the Planning Commission, the establishment of which had been proposed, should consider as soon as possible the exact location within the agreed area and obtain estimated costs of sites covering 2, 5, 10, 20, and 40 square miles respectively. On the basis of this information the next meeting of the Assembly should make a final decision on the exact location and the exact area required. Speaking to this proposal, the New Zealand representative said that his delegation now felt it was in possession of a document which gave enough facts to enable the Committee to reach some decision. Such troublesome problems should not be adjourned. The location, but certainly not the extent of the territory, should be decided on ; with that understanding he would support the Netherlands proposal. When the French amendment came to be voted on, nineteen countries supported, and an equal number (including New Zealand) opposed it. This was ruled to be a rejection of the amendment. The Netherlands amendment, with some minor alterations, was passed by a small margin ; New Zealand voted with the majority. This meant acceptance of the Interim Committee's recommendations on the permanent site. At this stage the Secretary-General wrote to the Chairman deprecating any proposal that the responsibility for choosing either the permanent or the interim site should rest with him. He also expressed the hope that the Committee would come to a decision as soon as possible, so that the Secretariat might be speedily established in suitable interim headquarters. These latter the Australian delegate desired to locate at San Francisco. This was opposed, amongst others, by the United Kingdom and New Zealand delegates. The latter pointed out the serious practical disadvantages of having the interim headquarters very far removed from the permanent site. Although from a personal point of view his delegation might have preferred -San Francisco, the decision to have a permanent headquarters near New York had already been made, and it involved as a necessary consequence the choice of the east coast for the interim headquarters. The Australian proposal was narrowly defeated. The recommendation of the Interim Committee that the temporary headquarters of the United Nations should be located in New York City was then adopted by a large majority, and, on the suggestion of the Australian delegate, it was agreed that the decision should be made unanimous.

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