561.311 F1 Advisory Committee/1002
The British Ambassador (Halifax) to the Secretary of State
The British Ambassador presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and has the honour to inform him that the Canadian Government are glad to associate themselves with the United Kingdom Government in welcoming the suggestion of the United States Department of Agriculture that the International Wheat Advisory Committee should be invited to meet in Washington at an early date to consider the wheat surplus problem.
The Canadian Government agree with the suggestion of the United Kingdom Government that it would be inadvisable at this stage to issue invitations to the International Wheat Advisory Committee as a whole and that for the time being discussions should be confined to representatives of the five countries most concerned, viz, Argentina, Australia, Canada, United States and United Kingdom. The representatives of the Governments of these five countries attended all meetings of the preparatory committee held in London during February to August 1939 under the chairmanship of Mr. Ray Atherton.91
The United Kingdom Government will be glad to receive the views of the United States Government as to the date when they consider that the proposed meeting should be held. It is assumed that it will not be possible to make the necessary arrangements in time to hold the meeting prior to the United States wheat marketing quota referendum to be taken on May 31st.
[The first wheat discussions were held from July 10 to August 3, 1941. For list of representatives present at these discussions and for remarks of the Acting Secretary of State at the opening session, see Department of State Bulletin, July 12, 1941, page 23. On August 4, 1941, the representatives issued a statement announcing that they had recessed and were submitting a provisional draft agreement (this draft not found in Department files) to their Governments with a request to their Governments for instructions; see ibid., August 9, 1941, page 116.]
- Acting Chief, Division of European Affairs; in 1939, American Representative, International Wheat Advisory Committee.↩