COMPLEX DISCORD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22338, 24 May 1947, Page 5

COMPLEX DISCORD

V GENEVA BARGAINING U.S. CONGRESS SHADOW UNCERTAINTY OVER TALKS [(10 a.m.) LONDON, May 23. The draft charter of the international trade and employment organisation is over-prone to qualify statements and provide escape clauses until it seems that a coach and four could be driven through almost every article, says The Times special correspondent at Geneva. Highly complicated permissive and prohibitive clauses are expressed in language so involved that the meaning is often disentangled only with the greatest difficulty. Lucidity is not a strong point, although the charter was .well thrashed out in advance. The chance of success or failure of (the conference depends on the negotiations between the United States and other countries, especially the United Kingdom and the Dominions. ' Political Pressure Exerted The bill before the United States Congress to increase the tariff on imported wool has thrown an element of uncertainty over the whole proceedings. Left to themselves, the experts might hope to make some progress, but the negotiators have not been kept clear of political pressure and intervention. The shadow of Washington Congress always lies across the discussions. [Pressure from business interests is less than was expected. Sharp clashes over the American wool duties should not obscure the relative success of other, negotiations. The Times, in a leading article, says the escape clause in the American Trade Agreements Act, by which the concessions may be nullified if damage is threatened to American domestic producers has diminished the reliability of all agreements to which the United States may be a party. The article discusses the national or group interests affecting the Geneva bargaining and says that they make a complex discord which may not be easily removed.