Office of the Historian

611.4731/144: Telegram

The Consul General at Sydney (Moffat) to the Secretary of State

Sydney, April 6, 1936—4 p.m.
[Received April 6—9:45 a.m.]

Since my April 2, 2 p.m. there have been several developments which lead me to believe that the Australian Government will probably advocate the enactment of legislation which would affect our trade more drastically than I had previously anticipated. The Prime Minister who has heretofore remained in the background has now definitely associated himself with this movement. Commenting on Grady’s8 conciliatory statements in Washington, Lyons gave out an interview the gist of which was that the United States is indifferent to Australia, that he had made it clear to the authorities in Washington last summer that if something were not done to ameliorate the trade balance Australia would take independent steps to correct it and that it was evident that we were unwilling to underrate [sic] Australia’s position or help. The conservative press is taking its cue from this interview and is creating a psychological atmosphere in favor of drastic action.

I have naturally been thinking over ways and means to counteract this trend; on the one hand I assume that we cannot afford to initiate trade negotiations as an answer to threats to curtail our imports; on the other hand if trouble is to come we should try to place on Lyons the onus of refusing a further opportunity to talk matters over. With these points in mind I respectfully submit for your consideration the possibility of the Secretary sending directly to Lyons a telegram making inter alia the following points.

(1)
That it is clear from reports reaching the Secretary of recent statements in Parliament and elsewhere that there still exists in Australia an inadequate understanding of the purposes and progress of our trade agreement program.
(2)
That the last thing that could be claimed of America’s attitude toward Australia is that we are indifferent to its welfare.
(3)
The fact that certain erroneous impressions persist is probably due to the absence of diplomatic representatives with whom constant contact could be maintained and who could currently explain our respective points of view.
(4)
That since the inception of our trade agreement program Australia has had no accredited representative stationed in America and serious misunderstanding has resulted.
(5)
That we would welcome a decision on the part of Australia to exchange diplomatic representatives with us and that we believed an Australian Minister in Washington could through his presence do much toward clearing up the existing misunderstanding and preventing new ones from arising.
(6)
That we hoped the suggestion would commend itself, as it would be nothing less than tragic if meanwhile either country should take a stand which might embitter the feelings of genuine friendship now existing.

Lyons is leaving on Wednesday to spend the Easter holidays in Tasmania but is returning to Canberra early next week when the Cabinet subcommittee is expected to submit the preliminary report to him.

My telegram allotment already exceeded; respectfully request the allocation of an additional $750 as telegraphing is bound to be heavy and is exceptionally expensive.

Moffat
  1. Henry F. Grady, Chief of the Division of Trade Agreements.↩