Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, General; the British Commonwealth; the Far East, Volume I

840.50/8475½

The British Embassy to the Department of State⁶⁴

August 13, 1942

Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

The following are the preliminary views of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom on draft No. 2 revised of August 13th, 1942.

1. His Majesty’s Government agree with the broad lines of the scheme for the creation of a Relief and Rehabilitation Administration as set out in draft No. 2 revised of August 13th, and they are prepared to cooperate in carrying it into effect, subject to the following points and to any observations that the Soviet Government may wish to make;

2. The preliminary view of the United Kingdom Government was that for reasons of effective administration the balance of advantage lay in confining membership of the Policy Committee to the four great powers. On reflection, however, it is felt that limitation of membership of the Policy Committee in this way would not in practice be conducive to smooth working, since the scheme as a whole would thereby be rendered less acceptable to other important countries whose wholehearted cooperation it will be essential to secure. In particular, the United Kingdom Government consider that Canada, as one of the major potential suppliers of relief goods, has a very strong claim to membership of the Committee, a claim that, on merits, is regarded as carrying greater weight than that of any other country apart from the four great powers. The United Kingdom Government recognise that any enlargement of the Policy Committee should not be such as would be likely to impair the efficient working of the directing machinery, but it is thought that a Committee not exceeding seven members would fulfil this requirement, and this number would enable membership to be accorded to two other countries in addition to Canada. The United Kingdom Government accordingly wish to recommend that the Policy Committee be expanded to include representatives of three countries in addition to the four great powers, and that Canada, as one of these three countries, should be accorded full membership of the Committee.

3. This is the only definite modification which we would suggest in the draft. We note that provision is made for the Constitution of a Regional Committee to deal with European relief and we would again emphasise the importance we attach to giving as much scope as possible to this Committee. We hope that a Regional Organisation for the Far East will also be constituted.

4. We take note that the Relief Administration shall, wherever practicable, use the facilities made available by such agencies of the United Nations as shall at the time be in existence, and we understand that it is not intended that the Administration shall set up its own agencies, either for planning or for execution of plans regarding provision of supplies and shipping, except where no suitable agencies of the United Nations are available.

5. We would also reserve the right to move amendments of detail when the stage is reached of submitting this draft agreement to a meeting of the United Nations for acceptance.

6. We feel it important, however, to obtain the views of the other United Nations and particularly of the European Allied Governments on these proposals at the earliest possible date and we would suggest that if the draft is acceptable to the Soviet and Chinese Governments, it should be communicated to the other Governments with a view to their giving it consideration and submitting their observations on it. So far as the European Allied Governments are concerned, the draft could, if the U. S. Government agreed, be communicated by Sir F. Leith Ross to the Allied Committee in London.

7. In this way, the ground could be prepared so that when the United States Government feels it opportune to proceed further, a meeting could be held of the representatives of the four Great Powers, to review the draft in the light of the observations received and subsequently a meeting could be arranged of the United Nations to obtain its general acceptance and to carry it into effect.

64. Marginal note on the original: “Communicated informally to Mr. Dean Acheson on instructions from the Foreign Office. H. M. Ambassador will communicate formally to Mr. Hull after Russia’s views have been received. N. Hall—27th Nov.”