Cablegram, Canberra, 27 June 1951
111. IMMEDIATE SECRET
Pacific Security Arrangements Our High Commissioner in London will have passed to you a revised text of Articles 7 and 8 of the proposed draft security agreement between United States, Australia and New Zealand and will have asked as a matter of urgency for any comments which the United Kingdom Government might wish to make.[1]
2. Although a slight misunderstanding arose with the Government of New Zealand over the revised Article 8,[2] this has now been cleared up and both our Governments are agreed in accepting text as passed to you, with one minor amendment which I shall refer to later. New Zealand Government is in fact prepared immediately to authorise its Ambassador in Washington to indicate to Mr. Dulles that the proposed revisions are fully acceptable to it. In the absence of any reaction from you, we have so far refrained from authorising our Ambassador to do likewise on our behalf, although, as our High Commissioner will have indicated to you, we are confident that the revised text will be acceptable to the United Kingdom Government.
3. We are now advised from Washington that Mr. Dulles has personally expressed a wish that full agreement should be reached on the draft treaty by next week if possible. He hopes that the treaty might then be initialled and released to the press, with formal signature to take place at about the time of the Japanese Peace Treaty. He has suggested that among other things a public indication of a further step in the direction of a collective security might have a psychological effect as a deterrent against any extremist action that might be contemplated in Persia.
4. We and New Zealand are fully agreed on suggested time-table and are anxious to finalise matter with United States. I should therefore be grateful if you would do all in your power to have the revised draft text considered at the appropriate level and advise us very urgently whether United Kingdom Government has any comments.
5. The minor amendment I referred to earlier is the substitution of the words ‘is authorised to maintain’ for ‘may maintain’ in the second portion of Article 8.
_1 See Document 96.
2 See note 2 to Document 97.
_
[NAA : A1838, TS686/1, i]