11th December, 1956
413. SECRET.
TOKYO
Yesterday’s Press reported in fairly unequivocal terms that the Government had instructed the Delegation to return before the end of the year in view of wheat stalemate. I checked with Yoshino who said:
1. The Delegation had reported difficulty in sustaining the talks without wheat counter offer.
2. The Delegation had been advised it could return (singly if necessary through Olympic overcrowding of airways [1]) if it thought this desirable, but decision left at the discretion of the Delegation.
I did not think this worth reporting because I felt you would be told the decision by the Delegation. However, since this morning’s press carried a Canberra report dated yesterday that ‘the Officials of both Nations’ denied both the reports that the talks had collapsed and that the Delegation was being recalled, I have thought that you should know the background this end.
Yesterday’s reports could have been part of the anti-Kono campaign currently intensifying.
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1 The Olympic Games were held in Melbourne from 22 November to 8 December 1956.
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[AA : A1838/283, 759/1/7, v]