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New Zealand Forces had made a material contribution to the liberation of certain of the territories, but also from their concern that the disposition of the territories should contribute to the stability, peace, and progress of the Mediterranean and North African areas. Concern on this score, the New Zealand Government considered, would be resolved if the future of the colonies was determined in such a way as to ensure respect for the opinions of the local inhabitants and close and objective examination of their best interests. The New Zealand Government felt also that it was incumbent on the treaty Powers to give recognition to the wartime pledge of the United Kingdom Government that the Senussi of Cyrenaica should not again be subjected to Italian rule and to ensure that in the choice of trustees for the territories attention is paid not only to the present statements of intention of the Powers upon whom trusteeships might be conferred, but also to their past records of colonial settlement and treatment of peoples of different race and culture. The New Zealand Government further stated that, on the evidence available to them, it appeared that the local population of Libya would be opposed to the restoration of Italian rule. They considered, accordingly, that the desire of the Libyan people for self-government could best be satisfied and the progress already made towards that goal could best be completed if the United Kingdom Government were invited to assume trusteeship over the territory. For Eritrea and Somaliland, the New Zealand Government recommended that the Deputies should examine carefully the suitability of a system of international trusteeship with the United Nations itself as the administering authority, and should make known the results of their study. In their second statement, submitted on 7 August after examination of the relevant reports, the New Zealand Government expressed the opinion that no significant proportion of the local population of Libya desired Italian trusteeship and that such a regime would be so widely opposed that the internal stability essential to the country's recovery and advancement would be disturbed. They therefore reaffirmed their former opinion that the United Kingdom should be invited to assume trusteeship over all Libya for the purpose of guiding its people to self-government. The New Zealand Government pointed out that they had received no reply to their request for information concerning studies made by the Deputies on the implications of international trusteeship. They had perceived, moreover, that no attempt had been made by the Four-Power Commission to explain the concept to the populations of the colonies and to obtain their reactions to it. In order to afford the Deputies and the Foreign Ministers an adequate opportunity of examining the suitability of the system for the government of the