CO537-4800 — Page 14

Revised Paragraph 5.

5. On the narrower question of the transmission

of information to the Secretary-General under

Article 73(e) of the Charter, however, I am advised

that there can be no question about the position.

The obligations contained in Article 73 are based not

on the exercise of sovereignty but on the exercise

of administrative responsibility. As the report of

the Special Committee was due to be considered by

the General Assembly of the United Nations at this

current Session, instructions were prepared for the

U.K. delegation as to the attitude they should adopt

should the representative of China repeat in the

Fourth Committee or in Plenary Session of the General

The

its

Assembly his remarks concerning the Kowloon and the

which he New Territories made in the Special Committee. These

instructions were as follows:

"If this question is reopened in the Fourth

Committee, the United Kingdom representative

should again reserve his Government's position,

indicating that His Majesty's Government will

certainly continue to transmit information under

Article 73(e) of the Charter in respect of the

New Territories and Kowloon. If he feels it

necessary he should draw attention to the

precise wording of Article 73 which refers to

"Members of the United Nations which have or

assume responsibilities for the administration

of territories whose peoples have not yet

attained a full measure of self-government

The article does not raise the question of

sovereignty, but concerns itself with the

exercise of administrative responsibility.

The representative of the United Kingdom can

point out that his Government is responsible for

the administration of the Leased Territories

and therefore deems it appropriate, by the terms

/of