Mystery of South Pacific Commission
p. 71 · Read in the full issue
South Pacific Commission
THE present condition and future pur pose of the South Pacific Com mission is becoming more and more of a mystery.
It was a creation of Dr. Evatt (Aus tralian “Foreign Minister”); and the fact that it has disappeared into obscurity means either that the Australian Minister has become tired of his toy, or that the other countries concerned (Britain, United States, France, Holland, New Zealand) have declined to take the plan very seri ously, and are not co-operating.
The Conference was held in Canberra last January, attended by all countries with Territorial interests in the South Pacific, and it was then agreed that a Commission should be established, the main purpose of which appeared to be a co-ordination of administrative policy in the South Pacific Territories.
It was proposed then that the head quarters of the Commission should be in Suva—a natural centre of the Pacific; but Australia fought for Port Moresby, which all other countries re garded as extremely unsuitable. Finally, as a compromise, it was decided that Sydney should be the temporary head quarters of the Commission for six months, within which period it was arranged the meeting of the Commission should take place.
Dr. Evatt placed the headquarters of the Commission in the School of Pacific Administration at St. George’s Heights, Mosman, Sydney, and appointed Colonel John Kerr as organising secretary. Since that time, although much more than six months have passed, not one word has been published about the organisation or
plans'of the South Pacific Commission.
It was noted that when Dr. Evatt left recently for the United Nations Confer ence, in New York, he took with him Colonel Kerr; but, despite questions by the press, he declined to state whether Colonel Kerr was travelling as organis ing secretary of the Commission, or merely as a member of Dr. Evatt’s staff.