Evening star., 1946-07-16

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and the Assembly will elect the
officials to administer the laws. They
will be subject to supervision only
by the United Nations Security
Council and by an impartial COVER
nor appointed by the Security
Council.
The prosperity and welfare of
Trieste are linked not only with
Italy, but with Yugoslavia and the
countries of Central Europe. 1t is
the natural outlet of Central Europe
to the Mediterranean. The only
railroads entering Trieste come
through Yugoslavia and are con-
trolled by Yugoslavia. Representa-
tives of that government asserted
that if Trieste were given to Italy
they would divert traffic to Fiume
or some other port in YugoSlavia.
Could Prosper Under Plan.
Because of the bad feeling be-
tween the two peoples in that
area, the control by the United
Nations may prove to be the best
means of preventing armed con-
f1ict and relieving tension.
If the area were joined either with
Italy or Yugoslavia, its political and
economic relations with the other
would suffer. Its industries might
be unable to attract the necessary
capital and labor might have diff
Guilty finding employment.
If friendly relations are main
tanned between the Free Territory
of Trieste and her neighbors, this
little territory may enjoy greater
prosperity and be source of greater
prosperity to its neighbors than
would be the case if it were joined
either with italy or Yugoslavia.
| I am convinced that the agreed
solution to the problem of Trieste is
fair and workable if the peoples
most concerned work together to
make it SO. Unless they work to-
gether, there can be no solution.
No final decision was reached on
the disposition of the Italian
colonies.
Colony Decision Postponed.
1t will be recalled that originally
the Soviets had requested the
trusteeship of Tripolitania. They
stated they wanted a base In the
Mediterranean for their merchant
ships. The French favored Italy as
trustee for all the colonies and at
the April session the Soviets eX-
pressed their willingness to accept
the French proposal. Except for
certain reservations in respect of
/ Cyrenaica, the British were willing
to accept our proposal to have all
the colonies placed under the
trusteeship of the United Nations.
! In view of the difficulty the foreign
ministers were having in reaching
agreement and the danger of the
colonial question becoming a pawn
in the settlement of other issues,
suggested that we defer a final
decision.
1t was finally agreed that the ulti-
mate disposition of the colonies
should be made by the four princi-
pal Allied powers in light of the
wishes and welfare of the inhabi-
tants and world peace and security.
taking into account the views of
other interested governments.
If the four principal Allied powers
do not agree upon the disposition
to be made of the colonies within
year after the coming into force
of the treaty. they have bound
themselves to make such disposition
of them as may be recommended
by the General Assembly of the
United Nations.
To Sound Out Populations.
The four powers have further
agreed to send commissions to the
colonies to ascertain the wishes of
the local population.
Pending the final disposition of
the colonies, they will remain under
the existing British military admin
stration.
The thing I like about the agree
ment on the colonies is that the
ultimate decision does not require
unanimity. Failing agreement
among the four powers, the decision
rests with the United Nations.
The Soviets finally withdrew their
objection to the cession of the Do
decanese to Greece and to the
permanent demilitarization of the
islands.
1t was. however, extremely diff
cult Tor us to reach agreement on
reparations. The Soviets wanted
at least 100000 900 reparations for
the devastation of their territory
by the Italian armies
Moreover, under the armistice
agreements with Hungary, Romania
and Finland reparations payments
of $3OOOOO,0O0 from each had been
imposed. The Soviets found it
difficult to reconcile themselves to
a more lenient reparations policy
in the case of Italy.
Help Recognized.
We on the other hand were more
deeply conscious of the help that
Italy gave us in the last months of
the war and opposed putting on her
a reparations burden which would
delay her economic recovery.
We had previously agreed that
reparations could be taken in war
plants not needed for italian peace
time economy and could be paid
out of Italian assets in Hungary,
Romania and Bulgaria. But the
Soviets insisted that part of the
reparations should come from cur
rent or future production of Italian
factories and shipyards.
We reluctantly agreed that the
Soviets could receive reparatio
up to $100,000,00O. But we required
them to agree that insofar as
reparations were taken from Italian
production, the deliveries must be
arranged so as to avoid interference
with economic reconstruction.
We further required the Soviets
to agree that such deliveries should
not commence for two years. In
order to avoid our having to
finance Italy's purchase of raw
materials to furnish manufactured
products to the Soviets, we also re-
quired agreement that the i'm
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