Cablegram 197 MOSCOW, 22 June 1945, 5.50 p.m.
SECRET
Your telegram 97. [1]
1. Monckton [2] and his colleagues had Dominion representatives in Moscow at an informal gathering last evening when he gave us copies of telegrams D.364 [3], 1050 [4], 1051 and 1052 [5] and arranged that we should be kept posted with developments of the Reparations Commission while in Moscow.
2. The first meeting of the Commission took place yesterday. Apart from setting up a Steering Committee consisting of two British, two American and two Russian representatives it only discussed generalities during which the Soviet indicated- (a) Germany should not be allowed to retain chemical industries or have scientific research;
(b) Standard of living of Germany should not be better than mid- European;
(c) Soviet claim textile machinery in Germany was more than required and proposed this machinery should come to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;
(d) Destruction of German metallurgical industries has been such that 75 per cent of German metal workers could be used in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
3. The Australian Government’s views as expressed in your telegram 97 were conveyed by me to Monckton.
MALONEY
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1 Document 119 was repeated to Moscow as cablegram 97.
2 U.K. Solicitor-General and leader of the U.K. delegation to the Allied Reparations Commission.
3 See Document III, note 1.
4 Document III.
5 Dispatched 14 and 13 June respectively. On file AA : A1066, H45/1015, i.
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[AA : A1066, H45/1015, i]