Issues at Canberra
The Commonwealth Conference at Canberra is one of the en- couraging signs in a discouraging world. As things have turned out, it is far more opportune than when it was first planned. Nothing has been more inspiring in these dark days than the immediate impulse of every British Dominion to offer to this country everything that is in its power to render. It is particularly satisfactory, therefore, that, quite apart from the immediate object of the Canberra Con- ference, British and Dominion Ministers should be in contact at this time, and that Dr. Addison and Mr. McNeil should be able to convey to their Commonwealth colleagues a sense net only of our deep appreciation of their generosity, but of our own confidence in our capacity to regain that level of prosperity from which in- exorable events have driven us. The actual purpose of the Con- ference is a preliminary discussion on the treaty with Japan, and here the identity of view between Commonwealth members, including India and Pakistan, whose individual interests are not in all respects uniform, is welcome and reassuring. It is agreed that the Japanese treaty should be proceeded with as soon as possible ; that a pre- liminary conference of the eleven countries represented on the Far Eastern Commission should take place immediately ; and that in the negotiation of the treaty no veto should apply. This last provision is vital in view of the part Russia considers the veto should play in international discussions. Actually she was at war with Japan for less than a week, and it would be intolerable that she should be able to impede the process of peace-making—which in this case will be in the hands of the nations that fought against Japan, not merely of the four Foreign Ministers. Japan must be restored economically, but it is essential that measures for her demilitarisation be permanent and rigorous. No one can afford to forget Pearl Harbour.
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