Cablegram Secret and Personal TOKYO, 16 August 1946 for the
Following is supplementary to my telegram No.5. [1]
Atcheson’s proposal to enlarge the Council has aroused much comment and speculation here. Gascoigne says he opposes the proposal because it would inter alia destroy single British Commonwealth representation. In any case, he believes the Council should be abolished since MacArthur will not give it the opportunity to be useful and it therefore becomes ‘a factory for producing expressions of mutual hostility between America and Russia’. I agree with Gascoigne on both points.
Since Atcheson’s proposal will come up again at the meeting on 21st August I should appreciate instructions. My own feeling is that I should not repeat not express opposition to the proposal but take the line that it is a question which can only be decided at Governmental level and not by the Council in Tokyo.
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1 Document 66.
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[SFU:EVATT COLLECTION, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS-ORIGINAL FILE (b)]