Cablegram 87, WASHINGTON, 20 January 1948, 11.12 p.m.
IMMEDIATE SECRET
I received your Washington 60 before Makin and I went to lunch with Clayton today. At the meeting I again put to him the strongest possible case that the words ‘accept the determination’ be replaced by ‘give special weight to the opinion’. Clayton expressed deep regret that he could not accept our amendment but said he was willing to accept an amendment which would go some distance towards satisfying us. I pointed out that we were very anxious to obtain an amendment to Article 21 as well as 24 and that should we decide not to press our original proposal on 24 we would require an undertaking that the United States would assist us to obtain desired amendment of Article 21. After discussing amended to accept both of them. With promised support from U.S.A., I am certain that conference will also accept both amendments.[1]
_[1] On 19 February 1948 full committee approved amendments to Article 21 after some minor drafting changes. In its Report to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Trade and Employment on 27 April 1948, the delegation said that the rewording of sub-paragraph 2(b) removed ‘possible ambiguities in interpretations’ and protected ‘more adequately Australia’s interest’. In respect of Article 24, the delegation reported that ‘the re-drafting of the final sentence of paragraph 2’ made it clear ‘that the Organisation itself made the final decision as to whether a Member was justified in imposing import restrictions under Article 21, and that a determination made by the Monetary Fund was only one of the factors to be considered in reaching that decision’.
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[AA : A1068, ER47/1/33]