494 



Mr. Edwards. Is it not fair to categorize the Ambassador's state- 

 ment and the position, I suppose, of the State Department, that you 

 are not immediately advocating any particular international controls 

 of the deep ocean, but that j^our proposal certainly leads us in that 

 direction at some time ? 



Mr. Popper. I would say, sir, that the results of the consideration in 

 the General Assembly this fall have led to a feeling that this is a sub- 

 ject that deserves broad study in the international community, and if 

 you will note the resolution that is in process of being adopted by the 

 United Nations General Assembly, you will see that all it does provide 

 for at this stage is a committee which, during a period of 1 year, will 

 engage in such a study. But I think it would be going a bit too far to 

 suggest that any preconceived solution would come out of this study. 

 It is true that you can find a number of countries in the United Na- 

 tions which would like to proceed in the direction of establishing an 

 international organization of some kind to deal with matters involv- 

 ing the deep ocean floor. It is true that there are other members of the 

 -General Assembly who either have great doubts about this or who 1 

 think are quite flatly opposed to it. So I think it is premature to sug- 

 gest any particular result will come out of the studies that are now 

 imderway in the United Nations. 



Mr. Edwards. You do suggest somewhere in the statement, and I 

 cannot lay my hands on it right at the moment, that one area where 

 great caution should be displayed is the question of whether private 

 enterprise, private technological companies or associations, would be 

 interested in really making a full development of the ocean floor if 

 it was set up in such a way that all of the properties or all of the 

 proceeds and all of the benefits would go to someone on an inter- 

 national basis. 



Mr. Pollack. It would go elsewhere. 



]Mr. Edwards. That is in your statement, is it not ? 



Mr. Pollack. Yes. 



Mr. Edwards. I certainly do concur that is an area where you ought 

 to use extreme caution because certainly this country's great progress 

 has been built on what private enterprise has been able to accomplish 

 and if you stifle private enterprise in that direction, I think that 

 you will certainly retard what would be a proper development of 

 the ocean floor. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. KoGERS. Mr. Dow. 



Mr. Dow. Mr. Pollack, it is very good to have you here with an 

 illuminating statement. I have one question about the Pardo resolu- 

 tion and that is where you summarize it on page 13 on the third line, 

 you say it looks toward a new international treaty which would reserve 

 the ocean floor. 



Does this Pardo proposal relate only to the ocean floor, that is the 

 solid matter, or does it relate to the waters above the ocean floor? 



Mr. Pollack. It relates only to the ocean floor. 



Mr. Dow. I think it would pose some complications if there is a 

 distinction between the ocean floor and the waters above that. 



Could you tell us, Mr. Pollack, as to the tenor of expressions amongst 

 the members of the General Assembly about Mr. Pardo's entire 



