611.4731/207: Telegram
The Consul General at Sydney ( Moffat ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 11—9 a.m.]
Sir Henry Gullett resigned yesterday afternoon as Minister in Charge of Trade Treaties during a stormy Cabinet session in which his policy as it affected the recent unsuccessful negotiations with Canada was severely criticized.
Although Mr. Lyons has intimated that Gullett’s resignation would not alter Government’s general trade policy there is no doubt but that [Page 139] a serious obstacle to the eventual solution of the American-Australian trade dispute has been removed.
The situation in Canberra is still exceedingly confused particularly as Lyons is leaving tomorrow for London. It seems more and more likely that he will return via Washington in the hope of settling outstanding difficulties.