United Nations 1637th PLENARY MEETING GENERAL ., "J ASSEMBLY Monday, 18 .December 1967, 1 at 10.30 a.m. TWENTY·SECOND SESSION I .. :'! \1·' NEW YORK Official Records 1 i.<.,~. , r \ CONTENTS The members of the Assembly, standing observed a minute's silenoe. ' Page 1 Tribute to the memory of the Right Honourable 3. Lord CARADON (United Kingdom): We start our Harold HoItp Prime Minister of Australia ••• 1 work today with a sense of sorrow and of shock to learn of the tragic loss of a leader in his own country l Agenda item 87: I Consideration of principles of international and a leader in the Commonwealth, and a man who had already established a world-wide reputation. He 'l ri . law concerning friendly relations and co­ I operation among States in accordance with was a man early accustomed to leadership and au­ " the Charter of the United Nations: report of thority; an athlete and a typical representative of the J the Special Committee on Principles ofInter­ pioneer people whom he led: long in authority, long national Law concerning Friendly Relations accustomed to public affairs, but at the same time and Co-operation among States modest in his bearing and his purposes, rising to the I highest post in his new country after the widest "j Report of the Sixth Committee ••••••••• 3 experience, and carrying with him the high hopes of :1 Agenda item 98: his own people and, indeed, of many other peoples Question of diplomatic privileges and im­ throughout the world. munities: (E) Meas ures telIding to implement the privi­ 4. Then, suddenly, we hear of this tragedy in the sea leges and immunities of representatives which he loved, and we mournthe fact that a man of so of Member States to the principalandsub­ much promise should have been lost. At the same sidiaryorgans of the United Nations andto time, as we conside!' his qualities, I like to think conferences convenedbythe UnitedNations that in his courage and his sense of adventure he and the privileges and immunities of the was indeed the right representative of a people staff and of the Organization itself. as well tackling the great problems of their subcontinent as the obligations of States concerning the with such imagination and such vigour. So we as­ protection of diplomatic personnel and sociate Prime Minister Holt with his people, and i property,· with his people today all of us would wish to ;oin in .. ~) Reaffirmation of an important immunityof dismay and in sorrow, but also in tribute to a great - represel1tatives of Member States to tl1e man. principal and subsidiary organs of the 5. Mr. CRAW (New Zealand): The news of the death United Nations and to conferences con­ of the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. iloIt, has vened by the United Nations filled my delegation with a deep sense of distress Report of the Sixth Committee ••••• 0 • 0 • 5 and griE'\f. No two oountries have closer or more Agenda item 88: friendly relations than Australia and New Zealand. Question of methods offact-finding We have stood shoulder to shoulder in war and in peace. Report of the Sixth Committee ••• 0 • • • • • Agenda item 95: 6. Mr. Holt had only recently visited New Zealand, 9 Need to expedite the drafting of a definition of and all N,ew Zealanders adinired his questing and aggression in the light of the present inter­ adventurous spirit. His untimely death is a tragedy national situation (continued) for Australia and for all of us here. Australia has Report of the Sixth Committee • 0 • 0 • 0 • • • lost a far-·sighted leader; New Zealand has lost a true friend. (' President: Mr. Corneliu MANESCU (Romania). 7. On behalf of the New Zealand delegation, I extend to Mr. Holt's wife and family, to the Australian delegation and to the Government and people ef Tribute to the memory of the Right Honourable "Australia our deep and heartfelt sympathy in their . Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia tragic loss. 1. The PFESIDENT (translated from French): It is with deep sorrow that we hav'e learned of the disap­ 8. Mr. SHAW (Australia): Mr. President, on behalf pearance of Mr. Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of the Australian delegation I wish to express our of Australia. appreciation for the kind words that- you have just said and that have been said by the representatives 2. I would ask members of the Assembly to stand of the United Kingdom and New Zealand on the oc­ and observe one minute of silence in tribute to the casion of the untimely ioss of the ?rime Mhister memory of this distinguished sta~esman. of Australia, Mr. Harold Holt. It i.s deeplv gratifying . _... ~~I 1........__.__..._.,"....,,_..;...·__..... ::iliii.':&iiiI-·."·............··,:~g·~:~~,~;:~~,~:~~wJ 2 General Assembly - Twenty-second Session - Plenary Meetings to me and to the members of my delegation to hear life has been a major factor in Australia's maintenance these expressions of sympathy, and we shall not fail of a high rate of economic growth within a framework to pass them on to Mrs. Holt and to the people and of great political stability. In a democracy such as Government of Australia. ours such co-operation depends upon personal capa­ cities of persuasion and trust, and it was through 9. To many of us in the Australian delegation, the these personal capacities that Mr. Holt contributed loss of Mr. Holt at the height of his powers came as so much to our national life. a personal shock. So far as cuncerns myseif, my meiD.ories of him go back to Melbourne in the early 13. Mr. Holt was well known internationl;l.lly. He I ,~ H.I~O's, when I was a university student and he had believed that the same principles of respeGt for law l f r \ recently graduated. I well remember that it was at and for the institutions of democracy, which meant \ -1 \ that time of economic depression and political unrest so much to him at home, could be applied for the -i • ·t that Mr. Holt made his decision to serve his country benefit of world peace and co-operation. It was that in the political field. Over the past three decades, 1 belief that lay behind his active interest in the work .~, our paths have constantly crossed in Canberra and of the Commonwe:>lth Parliamentary Association, overseas, his the path of a Member of Parliament over whose conferences he presided in Ottawa and l and Minister of State and mine that of a public servant. later in Nairobi. ( 10. It was in 1935 that Mr. Holt first won election 14. As Minister for Labour, he attended meetings [, to the Australian Parliament, which he continued to held under the International Labour Organisation and , serve until the time of his loss yesterday. Because he presided over the International Labour Conference I of his abilities, he quickly achieved ministerial rank [ at Geneva in 1957. He remained deeply attached to I in 1939. With the outbreak of war that year, he decided the pr:inciple of tripartite co-operation between organ­ l. that his duty to his country required him to resign ized labour, management and government, onwhichthe his ministerial position and enlist with the humble International Labour Organisation is founded. f rank of gunner in the Australian Army. He was later recalled to take up his ministerial duties. Over the 15. Later, as Treasurer of Australia, he attended an­ years, he held the ministerial portfolios of Labour nual meetings of the Boards ofGovernors ofthe Inter­ and National Service, Immigration and Treasury. He national Bank, the International Monetary Fund andthe achieved his highest political ambition when he became International Finance Corporation. He had a deepinter­ t Prime Minister of Australia in January 1966. est in programmes of international aidfor the purpose I ofeconomic development, anditwas under his Treasur­ ~. 11. Mr. Harold Halt was first and foremost a ership and Prime Ministership that Australian par­ 1 parliamentarian. He believed in certain policies of ticipation in those programmes reached a stage at Government and he believed in their advancement which Australia came to rank amongst the largest through the machinery of parliamentary democracy. contributors in the world, in terms of population and , ~ This meant that he was resolute in his ideas and national income. I forthright in his expression of them. He was a ready speaker, brought up in the hard school of open debate 16. The late Prime Minister saw clearly that the against active political opponents. But because of his swift march of world events meant that it was within devotion to the rule of law in which he was trained, the Asian and Pacific regions that we were now con­ and to the conventions of parliamentary democracy fronted by developments which face mankind with its within which he pursued his career, he never failed greatest dangers and most challenging problems. to retain the respect and friendship of his political He sought for means to establish. that all nations in opponents. He had his diE agreements on the hustings that vast region including those of differing ideologies, and in Parliament with his opponents, who often held should come to live together in terms of mutual Widely divergent political beliefs. But I am sure that, respect. Under his rJuidance, Australia attempted to today, in Australia, Mr. Holt is being mourned not play its proper part in securing the stability of the simply by members of his own political party but by Asian-Pacific region and in contributing to its social representatives of all parties and all sections of the and economic development and, thus, in helping to community.