Cablegrams 395, 164 CANBERRA, 16 December 1947
IMMEDIATE
Please convey earnest invitation from Acting Prime Minister and Minister External Affairs [1] to Prime Minister of the Netherlands to visit Australia. We consider his visit would do much not only to better Netherlands-Australian relations but also in the ultimate solution of the problems of N.E.I.
For Hague. Please follow up this invitation in any way possible.
[2]
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1 Chifley left Sydney by air on 14 December for a holiday in New Zealand. Evatt served as Acting Prime Minister until Chifley returned to Australia on 1 January 1948.
2 Officer replied on 17 December that Van Boetzelaer agreed that it would be most desirable for Beel to visit Australia, but the Minister for Foreign Affairs feared that an urgent need for the Prime Minister’s early return to Holland could preclude such a visit.
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[AA:A1838/283, 403/3/1/1, xiii]