Cablegram 4867 [1] CANBERRA, 3 June 1942
United Kingdom
PRIORITY IMMEDIATE SECRET PERSONAL FOR HIMSELF
Reference your. S. 28. [2]
I have agreed, in accordance with Dominions Office cable No. 442 [3], to relieve you of your routine functions as High Commissioner while you are Accredited Representative of the Commonwealth Government on the War Cabinet and Pacific War Council.
2. I shall make a statement to Parliament to this effect during the week [4] and emphasise as requested by the Prime Minister your special position as a former Australian Prime Minister and add that you are a Member of His Majesty’s Privy Council.
3. Approval is given for the appointment of Duncan [5] as Deputy High Commissioner.
CURTIN
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1 Repeated to the Minister for External Affairs (then in Washington) as no. PM 79. Curtin also dispatched a cablegram in similar terms to the U.K. Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as no. 320 On the same day (on file AA: MP1217, Box 461, Australian representation in the United Kingdom).
2 Document 514.
3 See Document 514, note 1.
4 Parliament in fact adjourned for the winter recess on 4 June and Curtin did not make a statement.
5 Official Secretary of the High Commission in London.
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[AA:M100, JUNE 1942]