Agreement to defer
In effect, agreement to differ had been trans- lated into agreement to defer. Sound and fury were channelled into the traditional British device of the Royal Commission. Document (A) set up an eight-man study group to consider the security of maritime trade routes in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and Document (a) enunciated clearly the British position in agreeing to participate in the study. Both sides were in fact left as free to sell and to react against that sale as before. But Mr Heath gave explicit assurance that supplies of maritime arms on a 'replacement and maintenance' basis would be cancelled if 'misused'. Though it was `understood' that Britain would not sell arms before the study group made its report, this must depend on the timing of South Africa's shopping list. it might be, of course, that South Africa will not ask for anything, in which case everyone could look silly.
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