5

The Fourth (Trusteeship) Committee of the Assembly examined all draft agreements presented clause by clause, taking the New Zealand draft first. During consideration of the draft agreement for Western Samoa, therefore, many amendments were offered, which, although applying to the New Zealand draft, were directed primarily at other draft agreements. The General Assembly, in plenary meeting, eventually approved the draft agreement for Western Samoa by a vote of 41 in favour, 6 against, and 5 abstentions. In the text now printed, footnotes indicate the alterations, all of a relatively minor nature, which were accepted by the New Zealand delegation for inclusion in the original draft. 3 8. Although the trusteeship agreement for Western Samoa is based upon the terms of the mandate (the text of which is set out in the Annex), there are several important differences. These changes reflect the differences between the trusteeship provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations relating to mandates. In the first place, the Charter lays greater stress upon the obligation, undertaken by the administering authority, to promote the political development of the inhabitants of the trust territory. Thus Article 76 of the Charter emphasizes as one of the basic objectives of the* trusteeship system the progressive development of the inhabitants of trust territories " towards selfgovernment or independence as may be appropriate to the particular cir.cumstances of each territory and its peoples, and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, . . . " This Article is quoted in full in the trusteeship agreement for Western Samoa (Article IV). The second noteworthy difference between the principles of the mandates system and those of trusteeship is dictated by the requirements of world security and introduces a change of great importance. The terms of the mandate precluded the establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases and also banned military training of natives for other than police purposes and the defence of the territory. Article 84 of the Charter, however, imposes upon the administering authority the duty of ensuring that the trust territory shall play its part in the maintenance of international peace and security, and authorizes it to make use of volunteer forces, facilities, and assistance from the trust territory in carrying out its security obligations, as well as for local defence and the maintenance "of local law and order. Article 76 (a) lays down the furtherance of " international peace and security " as a basic objective of the trusteeship system. This change is reflected in Article X of the trusteeship agreement now printed. The third important difference between the mandates and trusteeship systems is in the method of supervision. The Trusteeship Council, upon which New Zealand, as an 3 For a more detailed discussion of the proceedings in the Trusteeship Committee (and sub-committee) and the' General Assembly, see report of the New Zealand delegation on the second part of the First Regular Session of the General Assembly, 13 October-15 December, 1946 [Paper A.-2 (1947)].