856D.6176/486
The Chargé in the United Kingdom (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
No. 3916
London, February 16, 1938.
[Received February
28.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith copy of
a note from the Foreign Office dated February 15, 1938, together with its
enclosures, regarding the proposed revision of the International Rubber
Regulation Agreement.
Upon receipt of this note, enquiries were made at the Foreign Office as to
whether this was the appropriate time for the United States Government to
offer any comments it might wish to make on the contemplated revision of the
Agreement, and the Embassy was informed that “naturally it was hoped that
the provisions of the revised text would commend themselves in their
entirety to the American Government” but, should it wish to make any
comments or suggestions, this certainly was the time to do so. The Foreign
Office went on to explain that it was hoped to reach agreement among the
contracting parties in sufficient time for the International Rubber
Regulation Committee to make its recommendations in final form before the
31st of March, 1938, by which date, under the provisions of the current
Agreement, the Committee must place its recommendations before the
contracting governments. While the governments, of course, have the right to
accept, either in whole or in part, the Committee’s recommendations, it is
obviously intended that the governments shall, if possible, agree upon the
Committee’s draft recommendations, so that the Committee’s final
recommendations can be accepted ipso facto and thus
an international conference to discuss the revision of the Agreement be
avoided.
The only comment which the Embassy offered was to state that, should this
schedule be adhered to, very little time was being accorded the United
States in which to study the proposed text and discuss its contents with the
appropriate contracting governments.
Respectfully yours,
[Page 926]
[Enclosure]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Eden) to the American Chargé
(Johnson)
No. W 1996/108/50
London, February 15, 1938.
Sir: As you are probably aware, under Article 3
of the International Agreement to Regulate the Production and Export of
Rubber signed at London on the 17th [7th] May,
1934,2 the present system of regulation is
to continue in force until the 31st December, 1938 as a minimum period,
and the International Rubber Regulation Committee is obliged to submit a
recommendation to the contracting Governments before the 31st March next
regarding the continuance or otherwise of the regulation, with or
without amendments, after the end of the present year. If this
recommendation is accepted by the contracting Governments it will
automatically take effect; and in order to secure such acceptance the
recommendation, which has been under consideration by the Committee, is
being submitted in advance in draft form to the contracting Governments
for their observations.
- 2.
- I have the honour to transmit herewith for the confidential
information of the United States Government a draft Agreement3 embodying the
amendments which the Committee proposed to recommend. It will be
observed that these amendments include provision for the continuance
of the Agreement until the 31st December 1943. A memorandum
explaining the principal amendments recommended by the committee is
attached.3
- 3.
- In order to avoid public discussion of the draft recommendations
before they are in the hands of all the Governments concerned, I
have the honour to request that the draft may be regarded as
confidential until the 22nd February, on which date it will be
published with the exception of the specific references to Siam and
the proposed Siamese quotas. These are still under discussion
between the Committee and the Siamese Government and cannot
therefore be made public pending the result of the discussions. The
explanatory memorandum will not be published.
- 4.
- It will be understood that the recommendations embodied in the
enclosed draft are at present only provisional. They have, however,
been agreed to by the Committee and by all the representatives of
the manufacturers on the Consumers’ Panel, including the United
States representative. The Committee will meet to frame their final
recommendation to the contracting Governments soon after the 15th
March.
I have [etc.]
(For the Secretary of State)
F.
Ashton-Gwatkin
