Commission

Non-British Nations Shy Over S.P.

Unpublicised Conference Held in Sydney

rilHE mystery of the South Pacific Com a. mission was explained during the month. The body—created in Jan uary, 1947, by the efforts of the tireless Dr. Evatt, of Australia—is not function ing because it has not been accepted yet by the Governments of the non-British countries.

Australia has given the Commission some substance, and a name; but none of the other countries concerned —except perhaps New Zealand —is taking any active interest in the organisation.

Colonel John Kerr, director of the Aus tralian School of Tropical Administration, was appointed early in 1947 to act also as Organising Secretary of the Commission.

The Commission was to meet about July, 1947, but nothing was heard of it. Colonel Kerr, without explanation, accompanied Dr. Evatt to the United Nations meeting in September.

On November 11, Mr. T. W. White, in the Australian Parliament, sought infor mation about the apparently moribund Commission.

The Prime Minister simply hedged— there was no information. Colonel Kerr “has gone as an adviser to the Minister.’’

BUT, quite unexpectedly, it was an nounced that representatives of the countries concerned with the South Pacific Commission had commenced a series of meetings in Sydney on November 26. The Australian Prime Minister must have known on November 11 that that conference was arranged: but he said nothing—typical of the hole-and-corner methods followed by Australia in all such matters.

THE following attended the conference, which opened in Sydney on No vember 26: United States—Mr. Olsen Neilson.

Consul-General in Australia.

France.—M. de la Croix. Consul- General in Australia.

United Kingdom—Mr. G Kimber, official secretary in the office of the British High Commissioner, Canberra; and Mr. H. H, Vaskess, formerly Secretary of the High Commission of the Western Pacific, Suva (now retired and residing in Sydney).

The Netherlands—Dr. De Ranitz, of the Netherlands Legation in Australia; and Dr. Loosjes, of the Netherlands East Indies.

New Zealand—Mr. R. T. G. Patrick, Secretary of the NZ Department of Islands Territories; and Mr. R. Hunter Wade, of the NZ Department of External Affairs.

Australia. —Mr. J. R. Halligan, secre tary of the Department of External Ter ritories; and Mr. T. Pyman, of the De partment of External Affairs.

It will be noted that the only repre sentatives who came from overseas were those from New Zealand.

THE conference sat on Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday, November 26- 28, and the following bare announce ments were made: The conference agreed to a number of suggestions designed to expedite the work of the commission.

Delegates considered organisational matters connected with the establishment of the commission.

The United States, France, and the Netherlands have not yet ratified the South Pacific Commission Agreement, and the commission will not meet until they do so.

Editorial Note

THE only Governments which, up to date, have accepted the Agreement made in January t 1947, are the three Socialistic Governments of Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom. ' As Australia, with some help from New Zealand, is virtually running—and financ ing—the South Pacific Commission, and as Australia’s policy in relation to Pacific Territories’ affairs is being clearly demon strated by the Wardist Administration in Papua-New Guinea —which is sharply pro native and anti-European—it is not sur prising that the Governments of United States, France and Holland are holding aloof.

None of those three countries can be impressed, at present, by British colonial policy, as presented by the daily pictures of events in the Middle East, India, Burma, Malaya, Ceylon—and New Guinea.

It is a pity, because the South Pacific Commission is a sound idea and, properly directed and supported, it could do an im mense amount of good in the South Pacific.

But Australian Minister Evatt cannot expect to keep his South Pacific Com mission and Wardist New Guinea within the same conception.

Mr. William Frew Watson, accompanied by his wife and ten-years-old daughter, arrived in Brisbane recently by plane from Suva. Formerly attached to the Income Tax Department, Brisbane. Mr.

Watson has been Assistant Commissioner for Internal Revenue in Suva tor nine years. After spending a short holi day in Brisbane, he will proceed to Hong kong to take up a similar position.