Of course I am not anxious to inflame the situation. If it is being inflamed, it is being inflamed by actions taking place in the New Hebrides and by the failure of the two colonial powers to act resolutely, jointly and effectively. Let that be registered clearly.

In this matter, actions really do speak louder than words. Whatever the French Minister has said so far—I hope very much that we shall get clear and emphatic evidence that he meant what he said—to withdraw without consultation the French gendarmes' presence is a major setback to the cause of restoring peace and order and an orderly evolution to independence in the New Hebrides.