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Doubts must be raised to the, U.N. plan with respect to two of the three listed 

 criteria: acceptability and- feasibility. 



The rather dramatic ^nd immediate demonstration of how more effective inter- 

 national and regional programs can play in the exploitation of the ocean bed can 

 be -seen in the arrangements f)ow being worked out for the extrication of gas from 

 under the North Sea. 



By the multilateral determination of the interested countries along general 

 "principles offshore ownership of the gas and other mineral deposits under the 

 North Sea have been extended along a median in that body of water. The median 

 lies between two masses of land and is supplemented by unilateral agreements on 

 the actual division line of arc segments coming from sovereign coasts. Because 

 of this, understandings are emerging which make a peaceful, productive and 

 equitable solution to the North Sea problem appear imminent. 



The thrust of our argument questioned whether having this matter within the 

 jurisdiction of the United Nations would have unscrambled this situation in any- 

 where near the time frame than this more practical handling was able to, nor 

 could we predict that United Nations handling would have provided any more 

 equity than that which w3s worked out on a regional basis. 



There are broad ramifications that can make a very definite contribution to the 

 emerging patterns of the body of law relating to the resources of the sea where 

 competing national interests impinge one upon the other. The North Sea experi- 

 ence suggests positive ramifications. 



A large portion of the law will have to come into being based upon practical 

 .experiences similar to that resulting from the North Sea situation where the bene- 

 fits of cooperation easily outweigh the benefits which may accrue from an an- 

 tagonistic and aggre^siVie posture. 



The world's existing mineral laws, operating above the sea have evolved in an 

 orderly manner from centuries of struggle with problems far less complex than 

 these. Together with a maturation of the U.N., we ought to look toward a matura- 

 tion of the law of the sea, before burdening it with additional, and perhaps naive 

 codes. It would be wise to let the scientists precede the lawyers in this field. Case 

 law seems far more practical than codes prefabricated in an unknowledgeable 

 vacuum. 



The issues are highly complex, the political dangers great, and the economic 

 consequences potentially, enormous. A great degree of caution is vitally necessary. 



Mr. Gross. What is Senator Church's position? 



Mr. Hanna. He favored, in the remarks that I refer to, the proposi- 

 tion that the U.N. was the proper body to have jurisdiction over the 

 seabed of the high seas and the subsoils thereof. 



I take, at least from the timeliness standpoint, the opposite position, 

 that the U.N. is not the proper jurisidiction at this time. 



You know now my concern. When I heard about the Malta move by 

 Ambassador Pardo, that was the end of the line as far as this was con- 

 cerned. It seemed to be moving toward an actual determination of a 

 matter which I felt was not in a position to be determined at this time. 



When I learned of the Malta resolution, and that it was coming 

 up so quickly, it seemed to me appropriate that something should be 

 activated to bring everybody's attention to what was going on. I felt 

 there had been too much of a dominance in the center stage, so to 

 speak, of a viewpoint that made it appear as if the United States 

 entertained an affirmative attitude. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. As I understand Mr. Hanna, your resolution 

 was introduced after you had news that Malta was planning to intro- 

 duce a resolution at this session of the General Assembly? 



Mr. Hanna. Yes, As a matter of fact, if you read the timing on the 

 thing it was after the resolution had actually been introduced. It did 

 not come to my attention at the time when it was introduced, so I got 

 it after it was introduced but before it was to be considered because, 

 as I uaderstood the timing for consideration, it would have come up 

 this week had not other matters preempted the original plan. 



