840.50/1820
The Minister Counselor of the Canadian Legation ( Pearson ) to the Assistant Secretary of State ( Acheson )
Dear Mr. Acheson: With reference to our conversations concerning Canada and the proposed United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, I think I should let you know at once (pending an official communication on the subject) that the Canadian Government yesterday discussed this matter and accepted the main constitutional provisions of the Draft Convention which you were good enough to show me unofficially the other day. Their acceptance is without prejudice to a number of observations on drafting points which will be sent forward when the draft is communicated to us officially. The Canadian Government’s agreement has in large part been determined by their desire that international organization in this field should get under way as soon as possible.
I have been instructed to make it clear that Canadian acceptance of the proposed draft is on the understanding that the prospective [Page 899] members of the Central Committee will use their best endeavours to secure the selection of a Canadian as Chairman of the Committee on Supplies on which the States represented on the Central Committee will themselves be members. At the same time, it should be understood that Canada’s acceptance of these arrangements in the particular case of the Relief Administration does not indicate any withdrawal from the position the Canadian Government have taken that the four-Power pattern is not in principle an acceptable form of international organization, that representation on international bodies should whenever possible be determined on a functional basis, and that the proposed form of the Central Committee will not be regarded as a precedent in other connections.
Yours sincerely,