Following is joint telegram to the United Kingdom Government from
Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia. Repeated to New
Zealand Government for information.

The Australian and New Zealand Governments desire to invite the
attention of the United Kingdom Government to particular aspects
of the Australian - New Zealand Agreement signed at Canberra on
21st January [2], copies of which were given to the United Kingdom
High Commissioner at Canberra and Australian Accredited
Representative at London for transmission to the United Kingdom
Government. At the outset the two Governments wish to emphasise to
United Kingdom Government that the holding of this conference and
the discussions and decisions resulting therefrom were fully in
accord with the principles of free consultation between individual
members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and that the
strength and unity of the British Commonwealth is in the forefront
of the policy of both Australia and New Zealand.

1. We would invite particular attention to the objectives of
Australian - New Zealand co-operation as defined in Clauses 1-6 of
the Agreement.

2. Armistice and Subsequent Arrangements. The Australian and New
Zealand Governments greatly appreciate the detailed information
which has been supplied by the United Kingdom Government with
regard to Armistice preparations and subsequent arrangements in
connection with the war in Europe.

We are in agreement that our interests should be protected by
representation at the highest level on all Armistice planning and
executive bodies, and that we should actively participate in any
Armistice Commission to be set up. So far as Europe is concerned,
and in explanation of the desire to be associated with Armistice
arrangements in that theatre, both Governments base their attitude
on the fact that twice within our generation we have been involved
in war as a result of hostilities arising in Europe. While we look
forward to exchanging with the United Kingdom Government the
fullest information as to Armistice and subsequent arrangements in
connection with the war in the Pacific we feel that no time should
be lost in undertaking detailed preparations in this sphere, and
that Australia and New Zealand should be directly associated with
this work at the earliest possible date.

Meanwhile our two Governments have agreed that Post hostilities
Planning Committees (similar to those already established in the
United Kingdom and Canada) should be set up in Australia and New
Zealand, and will arrange for the work of these committees to be
coordinated. Meanwhile our two Governments are in agreement that
no final peace settlement should be made in respect of any of our
enemies until after hostilities with all of them are concluded.

3. United Nations Relief Administration. Our two Governments have
agreed that it is most desirable that the Far Eastern Committee of
the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration should
be located in Australia.

4. Security and Defence. The two Governments are in agreement
that, within the framework of a general system of world security,
a regional zone of defence comprising the South West and South
Pacific areas should be established and that this should be based
on Australia and New Zealand, stretching through the arc of
islands north and northwest of Australia, to Western Samoa and the
Cook islands.

We feel that it would be a great mistake if it were now agreed to
confine the planning and establishment of the general
international organisation referred to in the Moscow Declaration
of October, 1943, to the Four Signatory Powers. We regard it as a
matter of cardinal importance that Australia and New Zealand
should both be associated in the initial stages with the
elaboration of any general international system.

Our two Governments have declared in the Agreement that they have
a vital interest in the action on behalf of the community of
Nations contemplated in Article V of the Moscow Declaration and
are therefore ready to assume responsibility for policing or
sharing in policing such areas in the South West and South Pacific
as may from time to time be agreed upon.

Our vital interest in this matter is obvious. The future security
of both our countries is dependent, subject to a general system of
world security, on the arrangements to be made for the control and
defence of the South West and South Pacific areas, and these
arrangements will inevitably be affected by the interim
arrangements immediately following the reconquest of the
Netherlands Indies and contiguous territories. Australia and New
Zealand feel that they must be closely associated with all
decisions and measures taken in this important formative stage,
and desire, subject always to consultation and agreement with the
other Governments concerned-
(a) that Australia have full responsibility for the policing of
Portuguese Timor, Australian New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Protectorate, and
(b) that Australia have a share in the responsibility for the
policing of the Netherlands Indies, particularly Java, Dutch New
Guinea and also the New Hebrides.

As regards Pacific Islands in general south of the Equator, we
believe that responsibility for policing should primarily be with
the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, though it is
realised that regard must be paid to the position of the United
States, which already has a naval base in Tutuila. We assume,
however, that the United States will wish to undertake a
substantial share of responsibility for policing the islands north
of the Equator. We regard it as essential that such arrangements
should be made as part of a general scheme and not piecemeal.

We have closely examined the means of providing a permanent
instrument of security in the South West and South Pacific areas
and believe that a zone of defence could be established by
agreement among the Governments concerned, i.e., United Kingdom,
Australia and New Zealand, United States, Netherlands, France and
Portugal (see Section II below).

5. Disposal of Wartime Installations. In regard to the post-war
disposal of installations, the two Governments accept as a
recognised principle of international practice that the
construction and use, in time of war, by any Power, of naval,
military or air installations, in any territory under the
sovereignty or control of another Power, does not, in itself,
afford any basis whatsoever for territorial claims or rights of
sovereignty or control after the conclusion of hostilities. The
two Governments were firmly of the opinion that, in view of
subsequent difficulties which may well arise on this question, a
declaration of principle at an early stage was necessary. Obvious
illustrations of the international practice occur in the cases of
Iceland and the Azores.

6. Civil Aviation. As regards the clauses in the Agreement on
Civil Aviation, it will be noted that, in the event of failure to
obtain a satisfactory international agreement to establish and
govern the use of international air trunk routes, the two
Governments will support a system of air trunk routes controlled
and operated by Governments of the British Commonwealth of Nations
under government ownership. We would emphasise our firm adherence
to the principle of international government ownership, control
and specification of trunk routes to the extent defined in the
Agreement and our firm belief that the alternative of British
Commonwealth trunk routes should be put forward only in case every
effort to achieve internationalisation fails.

7. Dependencies. There was a comprehensive interchange of
information and views on wartime developments in the Pacific
Islands, particularly regarding the following-
(a) Development of bases, airfields, etc.,
(b) Wartime administration,
(c) American activities,
(d) Wartime collaboration between Australia, New Zealand and other
powers and the local administration,
(e) Effects of War on native labour, social life, standards of
living, etc.

Under (b) was included the action taken by Australia in regard to
preparations for resumption of administration in Nauru, the
wartime administration of New Guinea and Papua, and the function
of the Combined Civil Affairs Committee. On the last matter, the
Australian Government informed the New Zealand Government that
inquiries had been made in London [3] and that the status and
functions of this Committee were being reconsidered. The two
Governments agreed that if the scope of the Civil Affairs
Committee were extended to the South and South West Pacific area
they would desire direct representation upon it. They would also
be glad to have any information as to arrangements the United
Kingdom Government contemplates for the interim administration of
its Pacific Island territories. The Australian Government is
prepared to make available for this purpose a number of
experienced officers and is prepared to institute immediately an
emergency course of training for suitable qualified men.

8. Wartime Administration and Post War Disposal of Enemy
Territories. The administration and disposal of enemy territories,
particularly the Japanese Mandated islands, are also of the
greatest importance to Australia and New Zealand. The two
Governments have set out in the Agreement that 'the interim
administration and ultimate disposal of enemy territories in the
Pacific are of vital importance to Australia and New Zealand, and
that any such disposal should be effected only with their
agreement and as part of a general Pacific settlement.'
9. In regard to the possibility that changes of sovereignty might
be suggested in the South West and South Pacific, the two
Governments declared 'that no change in the sovereignty or system
of control of any of the islands of the Pacific should be effected
except as a result of an agreement to which they are parties or in
the terms of which they have both concurred.'
10. Welfare of Native Peoples. The Agreement declares that in
applying the principle of the Atlantic Charter, the doctrine of
trusteeship is applicable in broad principle to all colonial
territories in the Pacific and elsewhere, and that the main
purpose of the trust is the welfare and advancement of the native
peoples.

We have agreed to take the initiative in promoting the early
establishment of an advisory regional organisation. This proposal
is in accord with the suggestion made by the Secretary of State
for Colonies in his statement in the House of Commons on 13th
July, 1943, and the similar suggestion contemplated at the time
when Lord Halifax discussed with Mr. Cordell Hull the possiblity
of a joint Anglo-American declaration on post-war colonial policy.

It is suggested that this advisory body which might be called the
'South Seas Regional Commission', should comprise, in addition to
representatives of Australia and New Zealand, representatives of
the Governments of the United Kingdom and the United States of
America, and of the French Committee of National Liberation.

Our view is that it should be the function of such a South Seas
Regional Commission to secure a common policy on social, economic
and political development directed towards the advancement and
wellbeing of the native peoples themselves. The establishment of
the Commission along the lines set out in Clause 31 of the
Agreement is receiving further consideration here and we look
forward to exchanging views in detail with the United Kingdom
Government.

11. Conference relating to South West and South Pacific. The two
Governments have agreed that, as soon as practicable, there should
be a frank exchange of views on the problems of Security (see last
paragraph of section 4 above), post-war development and native
welfare between properly accredited representatives of the
Governments with existing territorial interests in the South West
Pacific area or in the South Pacific area, or in both, namely, in
addition to the two Governments, His Majesty's Government in the
United Kingdom, the Government of the United States of America,
the Government of the Netherlands, the French Committee of
National Liberation and the Government of Portugal, and His
Majesty's Government in the Commonwealth of Australia should take
the necessary steps to call a conference of the governments
concerned.

In this connection the Australian and New Zealand Governments are
agreed that it will not be practicable to hold a conference of
this kind until some time after the forthcoming conference of
British Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London. It is proposed to
hold the conference at Canberra about the middle of the year and
invitations will be issued later.

12. Permanent Machinery for Collaboration and Co-operation between
Australia and New Zealand. We invite particular attention to the
articles of our Agreement relating to machinery for co-operation
in defence (Clause 35 (a) and Clause 36).

13. As an immediate step towards further action in implementing
the decisions of the Conference, both Governments would appreciate
the views of the United Kingdom Government on matters referred to
in this telegram.