Cablegram 137 CANBERRA, 4 August 1945
TOP SECRET PERSONAL
Regarding Potsdam.
It seems to me that the exclusion of the four British Dominions from the Council of Foreign Ministers and the inclusion of China is an action very detrimental to the Dominions, having regard to our contribution to the victory over Italy and Germany and our sustained war effort since 1939. In substance, our position may well be less effective than that of the Dominions in 1919 when Borden, Hughes, Botha, Smuts and Massey [1] at any rate obtained a recognition of the right of the Dominions to make some effective contribution to the making of the European peace.
For further details you will have seen the telegrams sent to London during the course of the Conference and which were repeated to you. [2]
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1 Respectively Canadian, Australian and South African Prime Ministers, South African Minister for Defence and New Zealand Prime Minister, 1919.
2 Documents 141 and 149, repeated to the N.Z. Govt as cablegrams 128 and 133.
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[AA : A1066, H45/1016/5/2]