847.24/159: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Australia (Johnson)
220. Your 322, June 27, 1 p.m.46 On June 22 Dixon47 left with Acheson a counter draft which he had made and telegraphed to Canberra for approval. It accepts practically the whole of our draft, adding a statement at the beginning, in lieu of a separate Lend-Lease Agreement, that the Australian Government considers the principles of the Agreement of February 23 between the United States and the United Kingdom as applicable to the relations between the United States and Australia and adding certain qualifying paragraphs at the end which have not yet been fully studied here.
While the British have not yet given us a counter draft they have received instructions from London which they say accept our draft although with certain minor qualifications. They are waiting until Dixon and Nash48 receive instructions before starting the final negotiations.
As the purpose of these agreements is basically to provide that each government shall contribute whatever it is in a position on purely practical grounds most effectively to contribute and as in the main the agreements merely put on paper what is already being done no reason is seen why the Australian Government should find any great difficulty in accepting them.