Mission would serve any useful purpose.
For example,
in 1967 the UK representative in the UN Fourth Committee
made the following response to a resolution requesting
facilities for a visiting mission to Fiji: "My Government
has been unable to agree that any useful purpose would
•
be served by a visit of the United Nations mission to
Fiji. The decision not to agree to a request for a visit
by a Sub-Committee of the Committee of 24 to Fiji was of
course that of the United Kingdom Government, in its capacity
as the Administering Power in Fiji. But in making this
decision the major consideration for my Government was the
declared view of the leader of the majority party in
Fiji who publicly stated, earlier this year, that his
Government did not agree that a United Nations mission should
come to Fiji. In practice previous governments have
adopted a very cautious attitude.
We have offered only
two invitations, to Aden and to Gibraltar, both in 1967.
The Aden Mission turned out disastrously; the visit of
the UN representatives coincided with or prompted violent
unrest, and the representatives submitted a report highly
unfavourable to HMG. The invitation to Gibraltar was to
observe the referendum on sovereignty; the Committee of
24 declined the invitation because of their support for
Spain's claim. None of the other requests by the Committee
of 24 for visiting missions were agreed to by the UK.
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