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The British Government is responsible for the international relations of Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla, St Lucia, Brunei and the British dependent territories. Some are members of the specialised agencies and United Nations Regional Economic Commissions, viz:

Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East-Hong Kong, Fiji and Brunei (Associate Members).

Economic Commission for Latin America-British Honduras and the Eastern Caribbean Group (Associate Members).

IMCO-Hong Kong (Associate Member).

ITU and UPU-Collective Member (known as 'Overseas territories for the international relations of which the Government of the U.K. is responsible'). UNESCO-Eastern Caribbean Group (Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent) (Associate Members).

WMO-Hong Kong (Member), British Caribbean Territories (Collective Member).

The British Government may also, when appropriate, include territorial representatives in United Kingdom Delegations at meetings of agencies which do not provide for direct territorial representation.

Each member country of the IBRD appoints one Governor. Most of the authority of the Board of Governors for each institution in the World Bank Group (IBRD, IBA, IFC) is delegated to the Executive Directors. Each of the five largest share holders (India, Britain, France, Germany, United States of America) appoints a single Executive Director; the remaining 15 Executive Directors are elected for two-year terms. Each Director appoints his own alternate.

Rhodesia is a member of GATT and ITU, an Associate Member of ECA and WHO, and a component of the British Overseas Territories Member of UPU and WMO. Since the illegal declaration of independence in November 1965, however, when the former Rhodesian ministers were dismissed from office, and pending the restoration of constitutional government, the British Government have withheld authority for Rhodesian representation at meetings of these organisations.

PART IV

MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH

THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

HE Commonwealth of Australia is situated in the Southern Hemisphere and lies between meridians of longitude 113° 9′ E. and 153° 39′ E. Its northern

is bounded on the west by the Indian Ocean and on the east by the Coral and Tasman Seas of the South Pacific Ocean, to the north by the Timor and Arafura Seas and to the south by the Indian Ocean. The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern, a name commonly used in early times for regions south of the equator. In the sixteenth century geographers used the name 'Terra Australis' to describe a continent which they thought must exist in the South Pacific. The east coast of Australia was named New South Wales by Captain Cook but when it was realised that this and New Holland, the name by which the west coast was known, formed one land mass, the word Australia began to be used, and was first given official recognition in April 1817 when Governor Macquarie of New South Wales used the word in his correspondence. The Commonwealth of Australia comprises the six federated States of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, each of which has its own Government, and two internal territories, the Australian Capital Territory, which is the seat of the Commonwealth Government, and the Northern Territory; both Territories are administered by the Commonwealth Government.

Australia's external territories, administered by the Commonwealth Government, are Ashmore and Cartier Islands (which are administered as part of the Northern Territory), Papua, Norfolk Island, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Heard Island and McDonald Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island (in the Indian Ocean). Macquarie Island, the only other external Australian territory, is administered by Tasmania. The Commonwealth Government also administers the Trust Territory of New Guinea. (The external territories are dealt with in Part VI of this volume).

The total area of the Commonwealth is 2,967,909 square miles. Almost threequarters of the land mass is a vast ancient plateau, averaging about 1,000 feet above sea level. There is a large portion of lowland with an elevation of less than 500 feet which is, in one place, below sea level. A third division is the eastern highlands belt, featuring a chain of elevated plateaux extending from north to south along the eastern boundary. This highland is known as the Great Dividing Range. The dominating structural division-the Great Western Plateau-has a few high tablelands and ridges such as the Kimberleys Region, Hamersley, Macdonnell and Musgrave Ranges. The Hamersley Range contains Western Australia's highest peak, Mount Bruce (4,024) feet. The Northern Territory's highest point is Mount Zeil (4,950 feet) in the Macdonnell Ranges, and South Australia's highest is Mount Woodroffe (5,000 feet) in the Musgrave Ranges. Ayers Rock, 1,100 feet high, a huge monolith rising from the central Australian desert with a circumference of six miles, is sometimes referred to as the 'largest stone in the world'. The Great Dividing Range stretches from Cape York in Queensland to the southern seaboard of Tasmania, but despite the name the mountains of the Divide are relatively low. In the north and central sections they

rarely exceed 5,000 feet. The rugged south-eastern area, known as the Australian Alps, is higher with peaks of over 6,000 feet. This area contains some of Australia's highest land, together with its highest peak, Mount Kosciusko (7,316 feet). The Great Divide also provides the highest points in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. These peaks are respectively Mount Bartle Frere (5,287 feet); Mount Bogong (6,516 feet) and Mount Ossa (5,305 feet).

Australia does not possess any extensive inland river system. The greater part of the continent lies within the southern arid belt between latitudes 15° and 35° S. The largest river system is the Murray River and its tributaries which drain about 414,000 square miles, including a large part of southern Queensland, the major part of New South Wales and much of Victoria. The river rises in the Australian Alps and flows westward to form for 1,200 miles the boundary between New South Wales and Victoria. After flowing 400 miles through South Australia it discharges into the sea at Lake Alexandrina. With its tributaries (the Darling, the Murrumbidgee, the Lachlan and many smaller rivers in New South Wales, and the Goulburn, Ovens, Campaspe and other rivers in Victoria) the Murray has an estimated flow of some 12,500,000 acre feet annually. Most of the rivers of the central interior flow only after heavy rains, while the majority of Australia's coastal rivers are short with moderate rates of flow, although the monsoon season in the north of the country can augment the discharge rate enormously. Australia's largest reservoir is the man-made Lake Eucumbene in the Snowy Mountains area of New South Wales with a useful storage capacity of 3,890,000 acre feet. Other major reservoirs are Eildon Weir, Victoria, 2,750,000 acre feet; Hume Reservoir, N.S.W., 2,500,000 acre feet; Warragamba Dam, N.S.W., 1,670,000 acre feet; Menindee Lakes, N.S.W., 2,000,000 acre feet and Great Lake, Tasmania, 1,300,000 acre feet. Other large lakes include Lake Corangamite (Victoria) 80 square miles in area; Great Lake (Tasmania) and the Gippsland Lakes (Victoria). The largest lake in Australia is Lake Eyre which covers an area of about 4,000 square miles with neighbouring Lake Eyre South. However, this lake in central Australia is generally dry with its bed covered with salt. This is true of many of the lakes of inland Australia, which, although big in area, often contain no water except after infrequent rain. The four seasons in Australia are: Spring, September to November; Summer, December to February; Autumn, March to May; and Winter, June to August. In most parts January is the hottest month but in Tasmania and Southern Victoria February is hotter while in the tropical north (probably because of the cooling monsoon rains occurring in late summer) December is the hottest month. In northern Australia the year is divided into the usual tropical divisions of dry and wet seasons, with the wet season occurring in summer and the heaviest rain in January, February and March. On the coast, where rainfall is often abundant, the temperature extremes are limited by the moist atmosphere whereas in the dry inland areas the extremes extend in proportion to the distance from the seaboard. Central and southern Queensland are sub-tropical. Farther south there are the warm temperate regions of north and central New South Wales and the cooler areas of Victoria, south-west Western Australia and Tasmania, with rainfall distributed throughout the year and increasing in winter. Australia's coldest regions are the highlands and tablelands of Tasmania and the south-east corner of the mainland. Australia's regular winter snowfalls occur in the highlands of these areas. Mean temperatures (Fahrenheit) of the various state capitals, showing the mean minimum in brackets, are: Sydney 71-1 (56-3); Brisbane 78-0 (59-9); Perth 73.5 (55.5);

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