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Regional Cooperation in the South Pacific: Twelve Years of the South Pacific Commission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Norman J. Padelford
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Extract

The growth of international cooperation in the South Pacific region has been one of the remarkable developments in regional collaboration in the post-war era. During the past twelve years, three multilateral arrangements have come into existence bearing upon South Pacific affairs. These are the six-power South Pacific Commission (SPC), the three-power Australian—New Zealand—United States Mutual Security Treaty (known as ANZUS), and the Southeast Asian Collective Defense Treaty Organization (SEATO).

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , Summer 1959 , pp. 380 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1959

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References

1 The text of the Agreement will be found in the New Zealand Treaty Series, 1944, No. 1, Wellington, Department of External Affairs, 1944. The Agreement envisaged invitation of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands to participate in the proposed regional organization.

2 For background accounts of cooperation in the South Pacific see Ward, J. M., “Collaboration for Welfare in the South West Pacific,” Australian Outlook, 03 1947, p. 17–28Google Scholar. See also Mander, Linden A., Some Dependent Peoples of the South Pacific, New York, 1954Google Scholar. Chapter 9 of Professor Mander's book deals with the early years of the Commission.

3 The quotation is taken from the Report of the New Zealand Delegation to the Canberra Conference for the Purpose of Establishing an Advisory Commission for the South Pacific, Wellington, Department of External Affairs, 1947, Publication No. 26, p. 1. On the Caribbean Commission see Bough, James A., “The Caribbean Commission,” International Organization, 11 1949 (Vol. 3, No. 4), p. 643–655CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 This resolution caused sharp differences within the General Assembly before it was finally passed by a vote of 31 to 1, with 21 abstentions. See U. N. Journal, No. 63/A, 1946, p. 708Google Scholar.

5 See Sady, Emil G., Report on the South Seas Conference, Washington, Department of State Publication 2796, Far Eastern Series 21, 1947Google Scholar.

The text of the Canberra Agreement will be found in International Organization, 06 1947 (Vol. 1, No. 2), p. 419–428CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 At the present time the Commissioners are: for the United States—Dean Knowles A. Ryerson and Dr. Alexander Spoehr; Australia—J. R. Halligan and C. E. Moorlie; France—H. Nettre and Z. Henry; the Netherlands—J. R. van Benge and Dr. Th. Bergema; New Zealand—C. G. R. McKay; United Kingdom—Sir Kenneth Maddocks and H. H. Vaskess.

7 For descriptions of these peoples see Keesing, Felix M., The South Seas in the Modern World, New York, 1941Google Scholar. Dr. Keesing has lately served as senior United States Commissioner on the South Pacific Commission. See also Elkin, A. P., Social Anthropology in Melanesia, Melbourne; University of Oxford Press for South Pacific Commission, 1953Google Scholar; and Keesing, Felix M., Social Anthropology in Polynesia, Melbourne, University of Oxford Press for South Pacific Commission, 1953Google Scholar.

8 Report of the New Zealand Delegation, op. cit., p. 5Google Scholar.

9 Descriptions of the work of the Research Council and of the Work Projects will be found from time to time in the South Pacific Commission Quarterly Bulletin, the official publication of the Commission, and in the Annual Reports of the Commission.

10 Accounts of the Conferences will be found in the Annual Reports of the Commission; see also Robson, Nancy, “South Pacific Conferences,” Australian Outlook, 09 1953Google Scholar, covering the first two Conferences.

11 An instance of political action, which may perhaps have been aided by the schooling received in the South Pacific Conferences, transpired in 1954. Following a nuclear test explosion at Bikini that resulted in several injuries, dangerous fall-out, and forced evacuation of two atolls, the Marshall Islanders appealed to the United Nations to have H-bomb tests in their territory stopped, or if adjudged to be absolutely necessary for the well-being of the people of the world, that more adequate precautions be taken. Marshallcse representatives were heard by the Trusteeship Council. At the conclusion of the hearing the United States promised to take adequate measures in the future to see that no inhabitants should be endangered. See International Organization, 11 1954 (Vol. 8, No. 4), p. 546Google Scholar.

12 The primary sources of information on the Commission's activities are 3) the Quarterly Bulletin published by the Commission, and b) the Annual Report of the South Pacific Commission. The Commission also published a series of S.P.C. Technical Papers. Summaries of actions taken by the Commission will be found in the factual summary sections of International Organization.

13 The record of this conference has not been published by the United States. The author Australian sources for a record of the proceedings.

14 Stanner, W. E. H., The South Seas in Transition, Sydney, Australian Publishing Co., 1955, p. 377Google Scholar. Mr. Stanner warns against raising premature hopes in the minds of many islanders that independence or full economic development are just around the corner to be achieved in any “race against time”.

15 Bough, James A., “The Caribbean Commission,” International Organization, 11 1949 (Vol. 3, No. 4) p. 644CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 For a discerning analysis of the Commission's efforts see Keesing, Felix M., “The South Pacific Commission: The First Ten Years,” Department of State Bulletin. 09 9, 1957 (Vol. 37, No. 950), p. 419–430Google Scholar.

17 The text of the ANZUS Pact will be found in The American Journal of International Law, Official Documents Supplement, July 1952, p. 93–95. For one aspect of the ANZUS arrangement see McHenry, Dean E. and Rosecrance, Richard N., “The ‘Exclusion’ of the United Kingdom from the ANZUS Pact”, International Organization, Summer 1958 (Vol. 12, No. 3), p. 320–329CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 The text of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty will be found in International Organization, 11 1954 (Vol. 8, No. 4), p. 617–621CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See W. Macmahon Ball, “A Political Re-Examination of SEATO,” ibid., Winter 1958 (Vol. 12. No. 1). p. 17–25.