890.0146/12–2446
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Special Political Affairs (Hiss)
Subject: British Comments on Our Proposed Trusteeship Agreement for the Japanese Mandated Islands
Mr. Balfour called me and said that he had looked into the above subject since I called him yesterday. He found that the Embassy had been informed that as of December 12 the Foreign Office was urgently engaged in obtaining the informal views of the Australian and New Zealand Chiefs of Staff. He said that in view of the importance of the issues involved he thought it unlikely that British views could be formulated by the first of the year and that he hoped we could defer presenting the draft agreement to the Security Council until we had received a further communication from the Embassy.
I asked Mr. Balfour if he would be good enough to obtain from the Foreign Office an estimate of just when we could anticipate receiving their views, pointing out that we might find it undesirable to delay very long although I felt sure we would be glad to accommodate the Embassy by delaying for a few days after the first of the year if the British views were to be obtainable by that time. He agreed to find out immediately the date when the Embassy would be in a position to supply us with the British comments.