862P.01/10–2146
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Associate Chief of the Division of Dependent Area Affairs (Green)
Mr. Middleton telephoned this morning to say that he had been unable to reach Mr. Hiss. He said that he wished to inform the Department that the British Government was publishing as a white paper the “Revise A” of the Draft Terms of Trusteeship for Tanganyika, Togoland and the Cameroons. The Government was doing this in order to get through the parliamentary processes, but its action did not in any way constitute a commitment as to the final text of the [Page 652] three agreements. This action merely carried one step further the earlier parliamentary procedure by which the British Government had published the original draft terms of trusteeship as white papers. Publication at this time, he repeated, would not preclude any change which might be agreed to during the informal conversations in New York or in the General Assembly itself.
Mr. Middleton said that the British Government was following the same procedure it had used with respect to the original white papers. It was sending copies to the permanent members of the Security Council, to the British Dominions for purposes of consultation, and to France, Belgium and South Africa as states which the British felt were “states directly concerned” in any event in the three territories.
Mr. Middleton said, finally, that he had not received any information concerning the arrival of the Delegation in New York, but he was sure Mr. Poynton would get in touch with Mr. Gerig immediately upon arrival.