Don’t Buy—Build!

Brain Waves From UNO

India Has Plans for Nauru

LATEST brain-storm in the Trusteeship Council of UN is that Australia should send back loads of soil and manure to Nauru to replace the phosphate taken out over the last 50 years and that which will be removed in the next 40 or so.

The idea came from the Indian delegate. He feels that Australia owes this to the Nauruans whose island is slowly being whittled away. The idea of removing them all to another island is “against the UN Charter.”

The Indian delegate obviously labours under a delusion that enormously rich and fertile soil is being removed from the little island to enrich the British dominions.

Quite the reverse is the case: raw phosphate, of itself, will grow noth ing. Some other points overlooked by the delegate: • The population of Nauru is 1500 and growing; it would now have been considerably more if some hundreds had not died during the Japanese war-time occupation and removal of the natives to the Carolines. It is population pressure, not phosphate, that will force them out. • The part of the island where phosphate has been removed is not fertile. The fertile portion of the island, where the Nauruans live, has not been encroached upon by the phosphate workings. • If there had been no phosphate workings on Nauru, the island would still be largely barren and the Nauruans, instead of being well endowed would have been just an other group of poverty-stricken dry island natives. • Australia administers Nauru on behalf of the British and New Zealand Governments. The three hold it jointly under trusteeship.

Soil-shifting, if any, should not, therefore, be the sole responsibility of Australia. • The purchase of another island has been discussed between Nauruan leaders and the Australian admin istering authority. The fact that the Nauruans have been paid adequate royalties on every ton of phosphate removed will ensure that they will be financially able to do this when and if they deem it necessary. The royalty has been calculated, to pro vide for their present needs—and to set up a community fund which will stake them to something else when phosphate workings finish.

Nauruans are~ regarded as the wealthy natives of the Pacific.