10th January, 1929
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
(Due to arrive Canberra 9.2.29)
My dear P.M.,
When he was in London recently Sir Joynton Smith, the Australian newspaper proprietor [1], called on Mr. Amery [2] with the object of getting him to facilitate the award of the French Legion of Honour which, he stated, had been offered to him by the French Government in recognition of the help that he gave through his newspapers and in other ways to the French cause at the end of the War.
I enclose herewith copy of a letter written by Mr. Amery’s Private Secretary to Sir Joynton Smith just before the latter left on his return to Australia. [3]
I am, Yours sincerely, R.G. CASEY
_1 Sir Joynton Smith had founded Smith’s Weekly.
2 Leopold Amery, Secretary for the Colonies and for Dominion Affairs.
3 The enclosed letter informed Smith that, even if the French Government contemplated such an award and the Australian Government approved, it was British practice to limit such privileges to those who had rendered valuable service to France within the previous five years. Smith did not get his honour. A copy of the letter, dated 21 December 1928, is on file AA:A1420.
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