Soviet Union, and set to work to propose standardized
amendments to all the draft peace treaties directed against
the interests of the Soviet Union. The Australian delegation
has written so many amendments at this Conference that
people are beginning to wonder where it gets all the paper
from. The tendenliousness of these amendments, in relation
to the U.S.S.R., is self-evident.
As far as the Soviet Union is concerned, the Australian
delegation has adopted a deliniLe line, a line opposed to the
interests of the Soviet Union. All its proposals on reparations
are incompatible with the interests of the Soviet Union.
Among all the decisions on reparations now in operation,
there is not a single one with which the Auslralian delega-
tion agrees—not one!
But the draft peace treaty for Italy contains not only
Article 64, on reparations,, but also Article 69. Here is the
text of this article:
"Each of the Allied and Associated Powers shall have
the right to seize, retain, liquidate or lake any other action
with respect to all property, rights and interests within its
territory v/hich on the date of coining into force of the
present Treaty belong to Italy or to Italian nationals, and
to apply such property or the proceeds thereof to such
purposes as it may desire, within the limits of its claims and
those of its nationals against 1 laly or its nationals, including
debts, other than claims fully satisfied under olher Articles
of the present Treaty. All Italian property, or the proceeds
thereof, in excess of the amount of such claims, shall be re-
turned."
The Soviet Government considers this article a harsh
one for Italy, but on -the insistence of the U.S.A., Great Britain
and France, with whom we cooperate on many questions,
it had to vote for it. But when it is proposed that we should
extend- this article to all" the small countries which bear a
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