Canberra, 7 June 1950
I refer to your letters of 4th May1 and 26th May,2 regarding proposals for a contribution by the Commonwealth Government to the United Nations Technical Assistance Programme. I have also a letter dated 30th May from our colleague the Treasurer,3 with which he sent me a copy of his letter of the same date to you4 on this subject.
I note the proposal stated in your letter o f 4th May to instruct the Australian representative at the United Nations Conference to offer on behalf of the Government an amount up to £200,000 for the first twelve months of the Programme or a proportionately increased amount if the Conference should decide that the first period of operations is to be eighteen months rather than twelve. I note also the administrative arrangements which you have suggested.
I concur in the proposal which you have made, subject to the reservation to which the Treasurer has drawn attention, that the amount to be contributed by Australia should not exceed the share normally contributed by Australia to the annual Administrative Budget of the United Nations Specialised Agencies—i.e., roughly 2%.
In this connection I note that your letter of 26th May refers to an amount of 600,000 dollars for eighteen months. This is inside the limit of £300,000, and has presumably been adopted by you as 2% of the 20 million dollars (per annum) which the total contributions may be expected to total.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the Treasurer for his information.
[NAA: A1209, 1957/5406]
1 Document 60.
2 Document 73.
3 Document 74.
4 Document 74.