Cablegram 318 CANBERRA, 1 December 1948, 4.15 p.m.
CONFIDENTIAL
At Lapstone we are sponsoring resolution leaving question of Republican membership open until end of conference so that matter can be dealt with if either party so requests. We are doing this in such a way as to make clear we expect satisfactory settlement of the dispute before the next session and without implying at all that we support Dutch attitude to question. Our advice to Republic would be to let matter drop for this session, leaving us to place on record that as Commission deals with economic and social conditions of area, and as Dutch have no authority over Republican area, it may be necessary for Commission to have advice and assistance of representatives of the Republic from time to time.
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[AA:A3196, 1948, 0.17026]