711.417/1134: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 20—5:40 a.m.]
709. Embassy’s 683, May 15, 8 p.m., Fur Seal Convention. Foreign Office official today informed a member of my staff that determination of the Japanese Government’s attitude with regard to the Fur Seal Convention comes under the competence of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and that that Ministry’s decision in the matter left no latitude for discussion between the Foreign Office and [Page 914] the American Embassy. He apologized for what may have appeared to be a discourteous disregard of our request to be consulted before the formal Japanese reply was drafted but explained that the Foreign Office had no discretion in the matter.