Cablegram unnumbered 7 December 1938,
Your telegram 5th December. [1] Commonwealth Government on 16th November [2] requested Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs [3] to instruct British Ambassador at Rome [4] to inform the Italian Governmerit that His Majesty’s Government in the Commonwealth of Australia accorded de jure recognition of the incorporation of Abyssinia into the Royal Italian Empire. On same day Prime Minister [5] made a statement in Parliament in which he referred to the intention of the United Kingdom Government to accredit British Ambassador at Rome to the King of Italy, Emperor of Abyssinia, mentioned the interest of Australia in the preservation of a peaceful and friendly situation in the Mediterranean and announced Commonwealth Government’s decision as set out above. [6] Letter was also forwarded as matter of courtesy only to Consul- General for Italy at Sydney [7] intimating the Commonwealth Government’s decision.
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1 Document 325.
2 See Document 317; note 10.
3 Malcolm MacDonald.
4 Lord Perth.
5 J. A. Lyons.
6 Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, vol. 158, pp. 1520-21.
7 Andedeo Mammalella.
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[AA : A981, ITALY 30, ii]