Cablegram [UNY]282 CANBERRA, 16 October 1946
Trusteeship
It is desired that Trusteeship Agreement as drafted and submitted to United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States and French Governments on 15th August should be communicated to the Secretary General. [1]
The terms of the draft agreement are set out in the Prime Minister’s statement to the House on the 7th August with the following two slight draft amendments which were incorporated in the agreement prior to its submission to the Governments:-
(a) In third paragraph of preamble, delete words ‘of the Commonwealth’;
(b) In article 4, delete words ‘of the Commonwealth’ where first appearing but not after the words ‘such laws’.
Please inform members of the Delegation on arrival and ensure that United Kingdom, New Zealand, French and United States Delegations are informed.
New Zealand authorities have informed us that they are deleting the phrase ‘on behalf of the United Nations’ from their draft. The text of their instructions to their Minister in Washington is being sent to us but not yet arrived. Suggest you obtain copy from Washington. New Zealand Government also comments that, like ourselves, they hold to the principle that the terms of each agreement must be related to the circumstances of the particular territory concerned.
United States has indicated that if all five Mandatory Powers rejected the phrase ‘on behalf of the United Nations’, it would not pursue the point. Suggest you obtain details of the present position in regard to the recent United States - United Kingdom discussions from United Kingdom Embassy in Washington.
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1 The version sent to the four governments is that given in Document 55, subject to amendments noted in the present document.
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[AA:A1838/238, 306/1/1, ii]