711.4215 Air Pollution/498: Telegram
The Chargé in Canada (Boal) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:05 p.m.]
38. Department’s instruction number 303 of April 18th, received today, and number 300 of April 14th. These are being combined into one note to be delivered Monday. The Prime Minister yesterday brought up the Trail Smelter question of his own accord to express [Page 936] earnestly his desire to see the matter solved at the earliest possible moment. I believe he may have had some intimation either from Trail or from Washington that the Department was contemplating withdrawing its assent to the $350,000 payment. He remarked that the Smelter representatives had urged him to withdraw the Canadian assent to this figure and he had refused on the grounds that having given this assent he did not consider it proper to withdraw under present circumstances. I, of course, made no comment on this phase of the matter but did observe that the Canadian Government’s position with regard to the pollution of the air at other points on the border made progress very difficult and I felt convinced that my Government would maintain that the Trail Smelter should be treated as a case on its own merits and could not be held over for, or connected with, an unpredictable series of future cases. The Prime Minister made no attempt to defend the views expressed in the Canadian note on this subject. The Prime Minister made some other remarks which were forwarded in today’s pouch.
Read telephoned me today on another matter and remarked incidentally that they had been working actively on the Trail Smelter matter and he felt now that they were getting very close to a position from which he would be able to form a satisfactory basis for reaching an accord with Metzger on this subject.
I respectfully request that Department consider in the light of the Prime Minister’s remark whether withdrawal at this time on the $350, 000 provision may not react unfavorably to eventual satisfactory settlement of the case. In my judgment, it is just possible that your instruction number 300 may lead to withdrawal of Canadian acceptance of our third proposal (now number 15).