The direction of faulting is determined for 23 earthquakes occuring in the southwest Pacific during the years 1950-1954. These solutions are combined with five published earlier by Webb and two published earlier by Hodgson and Storey, to permit a study of the failure pattern in the area. It is concluded that faulting in the southwest Pacific is principally strike-slip, on steeply dipping planes. The strike direction of the faults is not consistent nor does it show any systematic variation with latitude, depth of focus or position on the associated arcuate feature. The solutions obtained are amiguous in that two orthogonal planes are determined, and it is not known which of these planes represents the fault. Whichever place represents the fault, the line of intersection of the two planes is a line uniquely determined by the solution. The line, which is here called the "null vector" appears to have great significance. For the New Hebrides earthquakes the null vectors lie closely parallel to a vertical plane striking N 22W, that is, to a vertical plane having the direction of the associated feature. Similarly the null vectors of earthquakes associated with the Tonga-Kermadec-New Zealand feature lie nearly parallel to a vertical plane striking N 24 E, the mean direction of that feature. The physical significance of these correlations has not yet been determined, but it seems clear that the association cannot be accidental. Under the circumstances the techniques of the fault-plane project must receive a considerable degree of confirmation.