550.AD1/58
The British Ambassador (Halifax) to the Secretary of State
Sir: I have the honour to refer to the reply of His Majesty’s Government to the letter from the United States Chargé d’Affaires in London of the 10th March relating to the proposed Food Conference in which His Majesty’s Government stated that they were carefully considering what positive suggestions they could offer to facilitate the work of the Conference. While His Majesty’s Government agree that the consideration of post-war plans by the Food Conference should be divorced from the questions of the provision of relief, they attach importance to avoiding the creation of an impression among the European and other Allied Governments that the problem of relief is in danger of being relegated to the background. His Majesty’s Government suggest therefore that it would be desirable before convening the Food Conference to consider what steps could be taken to explain the scope of the Food and Relief Conferences11 and to provide measures for connecting [Page 825] the two sets of discussions in order to indicate that the urgent problems of relief were not being ignored or neglected.
His Majesty’s Government assume that the Food Conference is intended to be primarily of a preliminary and exploratory nature, its main object being to analyse and define the long-range questions relating to foodstuffs and other essential agricultural products which are set out in heading one of the draft agenda, taking into account the problems arising from the structural modifications which have occurred during the war. It is assumed, therefore, that the Conference, while dealing in such detail as may be possible with matters under head one and the related head four of the draft agenda, will in regard to other matters which involve economic and financial issues over a wide field, confine themselves to discussion of the most appropriate method by which these matters may be handled and brought to an agreed conclusion. His Majesty’s Government would wish that they should be dealt with in subsequent and separate discussion when there has been time for the necessary preparation.
I have [etc.]